The country pauses to remember an incident in which peaceful Indians (later decimated by disease, invaders, and assimilation) invited early Pilgrims to a harvest feast by stuffing ourselves silly, particularly with turkey--a native bird--cranberry sauce, and a variety of side dishes that vary by region, followed by football (American style) and giving a chance for stores to close so they can open to vast after-Thanksgiving sales on the biggest shopping day of year in preparation for Christmas, another national holiday that escapes me (at least as to why it's a national holiday and not merely a religious one).
Yeah, I don't really get it.
In my case, though, it's usually a time to get together with my family and have dinner, although now that we're down to mostly women, we skip the football. This year we had it at my mom's; I went to my grandmother's, picked her up, and took her on to Stanford from Danville. They had turkey with all the trimmings; I had baked cod. It was the first Thanksgiving I can remember where I braved oyster casserole (her husband's family recipe) and we didn't have fruit salad (ours--there was just so much and whereas there were plenty of sugar free desserts for the diabetics--and all but one of us are--it's hard to make a fruit salad low on sugar.
We had a good time. I felt a little out of place there, like I wasn't quite connecting on some level, but rather watching it from the outside. Part of that reason may have been the inclusion of my stepfather's family--his mother, whom I don't really know but who seems rather sweet and my stepbrother, who is painfully shy and doesn't really talk.
Afterwards my mother showed me where she'd subscribed to a major genealogy website and had some of the family back to the 15th century, building on other genealogists' work. I have to admit, I really wanted to add what I have to that, although it's $155 a year, so I doubt I can subscribe.
We went back early; my grandmother decided she was going and so I didn't really get the sides to take back home (I only missed the mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, really, but if I'd taken the latter home, I'd have eaten too much too quickly, and since it's sugar-free, that could have a quite negative effect on my system), and I was a wuss and didn't tell her just to hold her horses like I should have. Ditto on the backseat driving. But hey, she's old and frail, and while we all give her a little too much slack, I don't really want to upset her over small things anyway. I'll save that for, oh, the first girl I ever bring home to Thanksgiving, if ever. :)
The drive was nice both down and up. By the time I got up to Lexington I was hungry again, so I stopped by the Chinese restaurant whose food I've been craving just on the outside chance they were open, but no luck. It used to be you could count on Chinese establishments during the holidays, especially at Christmas, but I guess they weren't making enough business during Turkey Day. So I went to Walgreen's, got a couple of things (like I'm now the proud owner of an electric can opener, since my manual one had gotten difficult, they didn't have any more of those, and an electric one with rebate was about the same price). Then I went home and baked some Tofurkey. I think next time I'll get the complete meal, which comes with gravy, extra stuffing, a couple of sides, and Tofurkey jerky.
Well, that's all for now. I'm off tomorrow and get to sleep in, which is exactly what I plan to do. Hope you have a good holiday, if you're in the US, anyway. The rest of you probably think we're wacky as all get out.
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