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Thanksgiving
Nov. 29th, 2002 01:50 pmAfter a great deal of negotiation and back-and-forthing, and the conclusion, which we come to every time this discussion raises its head, that we really cannot have Thanksgiving in our house, with our kitchens, we held it at David's mother's house in Northfield. It was the first Big Family Holiday without David's father, and we were all rather subdued. Part of the subduction -- what IS the noun of that verb? -- was also, I believe, caused by the fact that we let our mothers talk to one another, and they decided that appetizers were really not necessary because there is always so much food at dinner. This meant, since we ate about an hour later than usual, that there was a fair degree of low blood sugar on the part of people who keep odd schedules and don't like to eat right after they get up. At Christmas, there will be appetizers, if I have to bring them.
I made mince pie and real pumpkin pie, which are the Dyer-Bennet Requirements; I also made a vegan pumpkin pie for Raphael and me. David did steamed broccoli, Lydy did a lovely mashed squash with brown sugar and spices, David's sister and mother did the turkey and stuffing, my brother made cranberry sauce, and my mom brought a cranberry and orange relish and also leeks and celery braised in vegetable broth and vegan mashed potatoes. Everybody kept saying that nobody really wanted the vegetables but we'd better have some for Pamela, who can't eat the turkey, but in fact most of them were a hit. David's mother kept all the leftover squash, and there were hardly any mashed potatoes left to divide. (Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese isn't, but it works in mashed potatoes. I am astonished.)
It was a glorious sunny day with a tremendous sunset that started with the clouds on the horizon turning pink while the sky was still blue, and progressed to pink all around the horizon and finally went dull orange before fading.
Tuxedo, David's mother's cat, followed the sun around the living room carpet and played with the discarded wrappings of the birthday presents. Mary's birthday is right around Thanksgiving and we had failed to celebrate Matt's (my brother's) in October because first my mom had a cold and then he had to work weekends, so we just hauled all the presents to this dinner.
Topics of conversation included my mother's new car (she said she was having a late-life crisis: for her midlife crisis she got a Mitsubishi sports car, but for her late-life crisis she got a used Subaru Forester); the story of how my brother got caught in a tornado in western Minnesota while installing a wind machine; the new Uncle Hugo's website, which David helped work on; the dismal state of American politics; Barbara's (David's sister) new job, Barbara's dog, everybody's cats, knitting, other handwork, health insurance, difficulties in household networking; cooking stories; tales of life in western Minnesota from Mark (Barbara's sweetie) and Barbara; news of relatives; reminiscences of past Thanksgivings.
David and Lydy dropped me off at Eric's on the way home, and the two of us had a very nice date.
Now I'm supposed to go write my novel. I'm wondering if I can finish chapter 3 this weekend. It's behaving not so badly. When I needed four lines of not-necessarily brilliant blank verse, they were right there. This is not always the case.
I hope everybody else had a lovely holiday or lack of one, depending on preference.
P.
I made mince pie and real pumpkin pie, which are the Dyer-Bennet Requirements; I also made a vegan pumpkin pie for Raphael and me. David did steamed broccoli, Lydy did a lovely mashed squash with brown sugar and spices, David's sister and mother did the turkey and stuffing, my brother made cranberry sauce, and my mom brought a cranberry and orange relish and also leeks and celery braised in vegetable broth and vegan mashed potatoes. Everybody kept saying that nobody really wanted the vegetables but we'd better have some for Pamela, who can't eat the turkey, but in fact most of them were a hit. David's mother kept all the leftover squash, and there were hardly any mashed potatoes left to divide. (Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese isn't, but it works in mashed potatoes. I am astonished.)
It was a glorious sunny day with a tremendous sunset that started with the clouds on the horizon turning pink while the sky was still blue, and progressed to pink all around the horizon and finally went dull orange before fading.
Tuxedo, David's mother's cat, followed the sun around the living room carpet and played with the discarded wrappings of the birthday presents. Mary's birthday is right around Thanksgiving and we had failed to celebrate Matt's (my brother's) in October because first my mom had a cold and then he had to work weekends, so we just hauled all the presents to this dinner.
Topics of conversation included my mother's new car (she said she was having a late-life crisis: for her midlife crisis she got a Mitsubishi sports car, but for her late-life crisis she got a used Subaru Forester); the story of how my brother got caught in a tornado in western Minnesota while installing a wind machine; the new Uncle Hugo's website, which David helped work on; the dismal state of American politics; Barbara's (David's sister) new job, Barbara's dog, everybody's cats, knitting, other handwork, health insurance, difficulties in household networking; cooking stories; tales of life in western Minnesota from Mark (Barbara's sweetie) and Barbara; news of relatives; reminiscences of past Thanksgivings.
David and Lydy dropped me off at Eric's on the way home, and the two of us had a very nice date.
Now I'm supposed to go write my novel. I'm wondering if I can finish chapter 3 this weekend. It's behaving not so badly. When I needed four lines of not-necessarily brilliant blank verse, they were right there. This is not always the case.
I hope everybody else had a lovely holiday or lack of one, depending on preference.
P.
