Thanksgiving Week!

I think every year, the fun and joy of Thanksgiving gets pushed back further and further with each year. I saw my first Christmas related commercial the last week of September. The Christmas movies started playing on different networks the last week of October. Everybody’s forgetting about Thanksgiving and I don’t know why, because I think it’s one of my favorite holidays. I’ve seen a lot of people start those “days to be thankful” on Facebook that start at the begin of the month and end on Black Friday. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of my “friends” actually finish theirs on the last day of the month. To everybody November represents “Black Friday deals” and getting up at four or five in the morning just to go to Target or Toy ‘R Us. I remember one year my family and I went to the mall on Black Friday. Worst mistake ever made. I should be thankful for the people who are nice on the normal days were there, because even though we didn’t get there as everybody else would (mainly because my family likes to sleep) everybody was still rude and the aisles were NOT meant for wheelchairs in some of the stores. I remember walking by Build-A-Bear and I was like, “I am not going in that,” but my nana, Blondie and my cousin Tate went in and got each of them different stuffed animals. That was the only cute part that happened on that trip.

I am a very big fan of being around my family. I love it when different family members come down, even if it’s just for a day, it makes me happy. To me, with all of us together, we seem small. When we’re all in my grandparents kitchen, it’s like the giant space we once had shrunk. I think we have a limit of five people in that room. That is, until everybody starts moving, then things get a little crazy. One year, we had everybody come down for Thanksgiving. We didn’t have any room in the kitchen and most of the children were teenagers, so we felt left out. It was like that episode of The Cosby Show that Vanessa has to sit at the kid’s table with Rudy, Whinnie, and Nelson. So my Aunt Laurie and her husband at the time took the kitchen and went outside with it. They went to the front of the house and put it there the other end of the house, where the living room is, and we just brought the “kiddy” table into the living room too and put it as close to the other table as we could, and it was nice. Later, we had a cupcake icing fight and my cousin Chris surprised the hell out of us by coming down. It was weird, none of us (except my uncle) knew he was going to come down at all and we heard the knock on the door because most of us were trying to run away from the nearest fingers that were covered in icing. Once we saw, majority started bawling our eyes out–I’m the one who started it!

The food is pretty delicious too! Every year I think as different family come down or don’t, the menu changes slightly. We still have the turkey, stuffing (usually two kinds), and gray. My dad is the one is in charge of the turkey and gray. My mom and nana make the stuffing every year. One year, my sister helped and mixed everything in this big glass bowl. It was seriously the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen. That same year, she made our sweet potatoes with marshmallows explode in the microwave. That was pretty funny! She didn’t think it was really funny, but the rest of us thought it was pretty good! My Uncle David has this famous mac & cheese, that he doesn’t actually make, my Aunt Katt actually makes it instead. I’ve basically been on “good girl” watch when he’s around, but I love when she makes this. I even got it for as a Christmas present and I only got one plate full because everybody else in my family ate it. That’s how things go, right? I’m sure I’m not the only one. Anyways, I’m hoping somebody makes green bean casserole too. I’m sure my mom will make it on Wednesday. My Aunt Katt is making two kinds of pies and I’m so glad I still have my chocolate mint ice cream. That’ll be my dessert, if I have any room in my stomach for it.