thanksgiving

My favorite holiday is usually spent on the Cape, with family. This year is a little different. I'm now in retail and the Friday after Thanksgiving is a must-work day.

7:10 am
Alexander kisses me good-bye, as he leaves to go up to Falmouth with his cousins, aunt and uncle.

9:15 am
I see Andy at Sashimi Express and pick up a big platter of sushi that I've pre-ordered. It'll make a nice pre-Thanksgiving appetizer.

2:15 pm
I imagine the scene as if I were there. Everyone's sitting in my mom's living room, with football muted in the background. Hors' d'oeuvres are passed and eaten. Lots of catch up conversation, with a touch of politics thrown in.

3:45 pm or so
All the females get up to start preparing the meal. Most of the work has already been done. We're talking final touches. Putting the food out. Slicing the turkey. Filling the glasses with ice. That kind of thing. The men will stay seated and will continue to watch football (the sound is probably on by now) until my mom announces, "Dinner's ready."

Jim will say grace, and the meal will be splendid. Turkey. Stuffing. Gravy. Cranberry sauce. Yams. Mashed potatoes. Peas, and probably things I'm forgetting. My nephew Adam will eat the most, and people will tease him. He won't care. My niece Sally will make kind remarks about global warming and wasteful consumption. People will tease her. She will care.

The conversation will be animated, with lots of people interrupting lots of other people. No one will be taking pictures this year. Jack, who's the real photographer in the family, prefers nature to people. And Ellie the cat is most likely locked away in my mom's room, where Valerie and her sons won't have to see her.

After dinner and before dessert, the men will go back to watching football and the women will stay behind to do the kitchen stuff. My family is liberal, except when it comes to meal-related tasks. The men almost always have nothing to do with them. And strangely, the women all accept this. My son loves this particular aspect of my family and happily immerses himself into the do-nothing-in-the-kitchen-'cuz-I'm-a man role.

5:45 pm
While my family on the Cape is eating their multi-berry pie from Crabapple's, I leave for Shari's where my Thanksgiving will begin.

It's pretty similar to my family's Thanksgiving. Same great food. Same familiar warmth. And same men hanging out watching football.

It's nice to have great friends; I have much to be grateful for.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.