EACH FAMILY UNIQUE-THANKSGIVING 2015.

Virginia and Cedric offered to host Thanksgiving. "Come early so we can play games and snack before dinner at 3:00 p.m. By 10:30, liars dice was the game of choice.

Laurie and Jim just watched.


The games changed through out the day. Virginia popped into the kitchen to do the side dishes...

...while Cedric took care of the bird.

Doug was the latest to arrive and added cans of cookies of his own perfected recipes. The game changed to Elevator. Theo learned the bidding game for the first time. Then some of us later played Ruckus.

 Between games we did some beer tasting, one of Ken's brews and this one, the first home brew for Stewart. He was mighty pleased.

Everyone takes a turn in the kitchen. Jim helped me peel potatoes.

Out of the oven, perfectly done and tasty.


Doug taught Owen how to part out and carve the turkey.


After skyping with our missing family members, Kristanne, Austin, Alec, and  Mason; and Austin's dad, Richard,  Jim took a family picture of those of us present. In a ceremony repeated in most American homes, we held hands and told each other what we most wanted to be Thankful for. Not surprising, the family-each other-was the repeated subject on everyone's list of appreciations.

Over indulging merits an after dinner walk, even though it was cold out.  The neighborhood trees were bursting with tangerines...

Oranges...
Grapefruit, pomegranates and persimmons.

Two blocks from the house is a Community park with a gigantic cement slide. Owen, with bare feet took a couple very fast trips down the slide.

Virginia went too. I, Laurie and Jim declined. On this fast moving ride. I remember hitting the ground so hard it gave me a headache. Playing on a slide was still and option when Owen and Theo were 7 and 5.

It is higher than it looks.

Theo shows good form with his frisbee toss, when we caught up with the rest of the bunch.

Good catch, Stew!  Cedric plays tournament frisbee. They now have frisbee courts in many areas. A new court makes it popular in Murphys.
Invigorated, we returned to the house for coffee...
 


...and desert. Cedric made the pies and Virginia's specialty is the pear tart which is everyone's favorite.

Jim and I followed the Thanksgiving moon back to Murphys. More tomorrow.

A GOOD IDEA FROM AMERICA.

Thanksgiving is a unique American holiday. A time to take stock, reflect on the good things in life and…a time to take goofy pictures.

A pomegranate almost the size of Owen’s head. It has dried, cracked and shrunk some since it was picked from their backyard tree.

It is November and crisp enough outside for sweaters. These guys never want to wear long pants or shoes unless they are visiting the snow. They are all legs.

My daughter is mentoring a Brazilian PHD student. Stuffed Turkey isn’t new to him, but Thanksgiving is. Each person at the table shares what we have to be thankful for on  this day.   I may rant about politics, but this is the greatest country on earth and I’m thankful for that.

Everyone gives a hand with the dinner.

After dinner the desserts: apple crisp, pear tart, pumpkin pie, and walnut pie. Son-in-law is the artistic pie baker. Equally fit for pilgrims and kings.

Then a walk in the park. And, if you walk with three biologists, you have to inspect what an owl ate for Thanksgiving. Little bones, feathers and a small skull are evidence in the owl pellet.

Marciel came here almost four months ago with no English. In Brazil, he had only played cards a couple of times. He did not know how to shuffle. No trump games or bidding. He learned three new card games, trump, bidding, betting. A new dice game. He then bested Doug seven games in a row too much howling on Doug’s part. We relished Doug’s loss and shouts of anguish at being bested.

The two grandma’s look like they’ve been sucking too long on a wine bottle. Goofy pictures are part of the deal, doncha know. We think we are a normal family, whatever normal is.

I'M THANKFUL I'M THANKFUL.

Life is a grand party and I’m thankful for the liberties we have, the protections we enjoy, our ability to pursue happiness; those things that deserve a lifetime of giving thanks. Closer to home, I’m thankful for my children, home and family. Home most likely for us is  four square walls, but it can be a hut in the wild, a place on the grass, a cave near a beach or any place the heart can rest,  but one essential component for me is best expressed by the  poet, Charles Swain:

Home’s not merely four square walls,
It needs something to endear it;
Home is where the heart can bloom,
Where there’s some kind lip to cheer it!
What is home with none to meet,
None to welcome, none to greet us?
Home is where there’s one to love!
Home is where  there’s one to love us.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

SIMPLIFYING THE HOLIDAYS

I ran into my friend Suki Tutthill at the bank  yesterday. She is hosting 31 people for Thanksgiving dinner. I groaned. Too much work. “No”, she said. “Its a free for all. I’m not even allowed in the kitchen. The women bring stuff and cook. The men do the clean up and I provide the place. Finding the dishes after everyone leaves can be interesting,” she chuckles. Hmmm. Sounds like fun. My simplify Thanksgiving this year is going to my daughter’s house and bringing the cranberries and a salad. We are a games playing family and enjoy the day long into the evening where turkey sandwiches, snacks, cards and loud competitive family stories are as much a part of the day as the dinner.

Our holiday get-to-gethers need simplifying in the future. Welcome holidays “lite”.  No more  wobbling, overloaded  from the table and packing on the  pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas every year.
My plan is to unsweeten the sweet potatoes, salads that don’t sog,  berry and apple pies without bottom crust. No side dishes and snacks with cream and sour cream. (Rich side dishes can be the centerpiece of another dinner.)

Lighten the work load, too.  Mash the potatoes with the peelings on. Make stuffing on the side ahead of time. Smoke the turkey. Smoked turkey takes one and one-half hours on a kettle barbeque with a drip dish at the bottom and the guys do it,  leaving the kitchen and oven free for other things.  Gravy  made days ahead by roasting a chicken and two turkey thighs. On the big day, just reheat.  Use  paper plates and paper napkins with dinner served buffet style.  Yup! Traditions can and do change.
I used to try and prepare everyone’s favorite dish for Thanksgiving. Pretzel jello for Laurie, sweet potatoes with rum, pineapple, orange juice and banana for Virginia, macaroni shells stuffed with Italian sausage for Kristanne. Ken, Doug, and Rich always concentrated on the potatoes and turkey.
Now, Doug picks blackberries every year for pies at Thanksgiving, Christmas and our July family reunion. Cedric makes walnut and pecan pies to die for. Virginia makes a pear tart that no one will give up. At one time, I  prepared no less than three vegetable side dishes such as corn pudding, creamed baby onions, burgundy carrots, spinach souffle, Harvard beets, marinated mushrooms, artichoke quiche. An embarrassment of riches.

As we give thanks  for our bounty,  suitably lighter,  we  know our table is still overladen compared to 98% of people in the world. It is appropriate that we are thankful, that we share, and that we have the means to help others at this special time of year and still enjoy our celebrated feast.