Turkey and Mushiness: A (not really) obligatory Thanksgiving post

It appears we’ve survived another Thanksgiving at the Smith house. There were no tears and only a few screams, so I certainly can’t complain.

Mom fixed turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy and a pie, and I did the sweet potatoes and green beans. Dad, as tradition seems to dictate, tidied up the yard with his leaf blower and cut the turkey.

Mom, having learned from past Thanksgiving feasts (during one of which my sister found her crying in the garage), asked my dad to carve the turkey BEFORE any guests arrived. I knew why, and I made it a point to finish up my cooking and get the hell out of the way before he got started.

You don’t want to be in the kitchen when my dad comes to cut the turkey. You just don’t.

Indeed, he wasn’t in the kitchen two seconds before I heard him yell “Shit!” He continued to mutter for several minutes and then declared twice (to no one, because Mom was out of earshot and I pretended not to hear him) that this was the last year we were cooking Thanksgiving dinner.

Because it’s such a hassle for him, right?

Anyway, the turkey was done within five minutes and I snuck back into the kitchen to check on my beans and potatoes. Mom cleaned up the mess Dad had made when he dropped a drumstick on the floor (hence the cussing), and I herded my cats up to their room before they could locate the source of the enticing smells that were filling the house.

Soon my aunt and uncle and their kids arrived bearing salad, veggies, pies and Aunt Bev’s famous stuffed mushrooms. Next came another uncle with nothing but his appetite. (And I can’t complain, because that’s what I usually do...of course, my trip used to be a lot longer--1200 miles--so I had an excuse.) Finally my brother arrived with his wife, my nephews and several more pies.

Then we got our binge on.

My sister missed out on the fun this year, as she’s spending the holiday with her fiancé and his family. She spent yesterday wandering all over the state of Texas, stopping in Dallas to retrieve said fiancé from the airport, and then stopping again at the airport in San Antonio to get his luggage, and finally hitting the home stretch to Corpus Christi. That’s how they roll…by the seat of their pants and without a lot of advance planning.

Everyone’s gone home now, and the cats have finally given up on finding any hidden turkey scraps (they still don’t know about the stash Mom has set aside for them). Mom’s snuggled in her recliner with a heating pad on her back, and Dad’s watching TV with the volume ridiculously high, as usual. Grandma Iva is in her room, worrying about whether anyone will remember to turn down her bed before The Lawrence Welk Show comes on.

I’ve snuck upstairs for some quiet time with the kitties, and I guess this is where I reflect on how thankful I am. I certainly have plenty of reasons to be…

• I’m thankful for the hope I have for my future, and for a chance to start over in so many ways.
• I’m thankful for the severance check that allows me to survive on nothing but dreams and a sense of adventure—for a while, at least.
• I’m thankful my parents made room for my cats and me; that they haven’t complained too much about our excessive napping and shedding; and that living here hasn’t made me crazy yet.
• I’m glad I’m not in Philly, where November is far too chilly for my taste and the winters are unbearably cold. (I wore short sleeves today and took out the trash in my bare feet!)
• I’m thankful for my family, because they give me so much to write about, and because they’re the only people in the world who share my particular brand of nuttiness.
• I am grateful for my cats, of course…for wet nose kisses and soft head butts and early morning purrs and loving blinky-eyes and all things feline.
• I’m thankful for a New Guy who makes my heart flutter, and for all the things that make him so fucking cool, like how he loves his cats and surrounds himself with books, music, and art and makes me laugh and makes me breakfast and doesn’t mind if I cuss like a sailor…and how he’s just really damn likeable in general!