Turkey Day

Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday for a while now. It is non-denominational, it means a 4-day weekend, and it is a day to give thanks for what you have, instead of focusing on what you don't. And now, with two more reasons to be thankful, this holiday certainly means more than it used to.

I'm in a bit of a curmudgeonly mood about Thanksgiving this year, though, as it seems that retailers are treating it like a barrier to Black Friday. Today (the day after) used to be the "official" start of the Christmas shopping season, but this year I started seeing ads for Xmas sales the day after Halloween. "Pre-Black Friday Events" seemed to be all the rage. While I have no problem with paying less for crap I'll probably buy anyway, I was aggravated that nobody was talking about Thanksgiving this year. In many ways it seemed like this holiday was something to be gotten through, not something to be celebrated. I think there's a deep irony in this when unemployment is so high and many people are struggling with less...though for many, shopping is the greatest salve of all, so why not extend great sales as far as possible to help people be more thankful? I don't know. I'm done ranting for now. (Though at least the Philly Inquirer agrees with me.)

Natalia, me, and our two reasons to be thankful drove down to NJ for Thanksgiving this year. The absence of traffic between 8:30 pm and 1:30 am along I-90, I-84, I-91, the NJ Turnpike, etc gave us a very practical reason to give thanks as well. Miraculously, everyone transitioned to sleep fairly quickly upon arrival, so we woke on Thanksgiving morning fairly rested and ready to celebrate.

Dinner was served around 3, which gave all of us a chance to play outside, go to Wawa (me), and watch the Pats/Lions. We even saw snow for a little while, though it did not stick to the ground. Celia provided part of the entertainment--she worked on her walking, taking as many as 7 steps in a row!



The dinner table was full. In addition to us four, we had Natalia's family--Tita (Abuelita, Natalia's mom), Baba (Andres' name for Natalia's dad...I think it is a baby derivative of "Abuelito", but it has stuck), Cristina, Bernard (for a few minutes, anyway), her grandmother and Charlie. Not much room for the long-legged among the group (again, me) to stretch out...but I think my stomach was the only thing stretching, as we all dined on turkey, mashed potatoes, asparagus, rice, cranberry sauce (which Andres ate), corn (which both Andres AND Celia ate) and sweet potatoes. It was a fantastic dinner. The Cowboys losing was the cherry on the sundae...which went well with the pie and ice cream that followed the main course!

Andres cuts up the turkey, after Welker and co cut up the Lions.

Celia relaxes after a good meal.

All of the eating took a toll on our energy levels; Celia was in bed at 7:45, Andres at 9:00, and I followed at 10:15. Leftovers today!