Thanksgiving-Part Two

But, yes, I was able to get quite a bit of goodness in me. All day long. It was wonderful. After Trudy's delectable appetizers, it was time to head home for some more Christmas movies. Thought I could play some Wii at Carrie's but ended up getting sucked into Holiday Inn. Have decided that the movie is long, racist, and much more charming in black and white.
Then, was the inevitable crunch time as I realized that I should have put the potatoes on "15 minutes ago" and hadn't even THOUGHT about the ham in awhile. But it all came together. Even with me distracting poor Allie from her hard work on getting some excellent gravy. Dinner was awesome. There was great conversation, some dancing to Mariah Carey and lots of people chipping in to help wash dishes. Just thinking about the day gives me a happy, sappy inside glow. Christmas, you're gonna have to work hard to stay my favorite holiday.
I forgot to include this picture in my last post. This is the planning that six of us sat down to figure out how we were going to feed 23 people in our tiny little houses. We were women with a wipey board and a plan. In my world view, we gave people options. The youngest person there was 24. if they were unhappy with the options given, they were darn well old enough to do something about it themselves. Why should the hostesses have to worry about more than what we had planned? This is what I have learned from years of eating with my mother and her friends. And you know what? They're right.
A view of my tablemates. You can't really see Jen or Josh, but they're there. Jen is behind the wine and Josh's hand is grasping his mug.
Trying to get a good brother/sister shot to send home to Mom and Grandma. This is about the best one. Thanks Mariah!

Thanksgiving-Part One

Oh my lands. This was the best Thanksgiving EVER! It's hard to beat this kind of day. It started at 6:45 when I stole Carrie's car and went up to get Michela (pictured at left, helping to get labels on the beer, another picture of said beer, best brew from Gardiner Gals Basement Brewing IMHO, is on the right and a little down from here. It's only missing Trudy, the one who stirs the beer with love, something I, apparently, am incapable of), one of the Italian interns in GIS. We came back down and people started filtering over to Carrie's for breakfast and the Macy's Day Parade. Have to be honest, the parade was not as good as usual. Better than last year, but still not great. It might help if they actually showed the parade. Seriously, no bands, no batons, just some silly balloons and lots of people promoting themselves and their shows. Doesn't make me enjoy the show. At least we didn't have to listen so some interminable prattle from two women about a vacation they had taken together like a billion years ago. The food, of course, was excellent. There were breakfast casseroles galore as well as brown-sugar covered bacon and mimosas. Yummers. At one point there were 15 people in Carrie's tiny little apartment.
At 1o, the parade ended and we were off to the annual Gardiner Turkey Trot. I think I talked about this in my blog from last year. Someone puts an ad in the Newsletter and people just show up to walk around the triangle formed by the park entrance, the border to Gardiner, and the employee road. Going around once is approximately equivalent to 1 mile. People show up, bring donations for the food pantry, and then proceed to walk for as long as they feel like. Michela, Allie (plus Ruffers), Mariah (plus Sadie), Emily (plus Callie) and I (plus Corso) all went to do the trot. Altogether, I think there were about 20-30 people there (I'm bad at estimating stuff like that). I only did the first three-quarters at which point, I warned Michela, who very nicely took over Corso duties for me, that he might slip free as his collar was loose, but not to worry because he knew where the house was and would go "home." I then made sure that Corso knew that I was leaving and showed him that Michela was on the other end of his leash and then scampered off to rugby. About three yards later, Corso indeed skipped out on the Trot and promptly went back to find Josh. Smart puppy. What did I know? I was enjoying myself down at the school. Plus, he made it safe so, whatever. Rugby, as always, was totally fun. There were about 16 people down there playing. I made a try (touchdown)! Granted I kind of sat down (you have to get the ball on the ground past the goal line to make a goal) but it totally counted. I also got beaned in the head. At least it was the back of my head and not my nose like happens with most balls of the sports variety. It was then back to the house. Emily, Mariah, Aaron, and Allie had started watching Love Actually since our house was the designated Christmas movie watching place. Josh was upstairs watching Die Hard. At least it fits in with the Christmas movie theme. Once I got cleaned up, it was a trip up to Trudy's where appetizers were set out to whet people's appetites/keep them from gnawing off their arms. There was a gigantic spread of olives, pizza, edamame, crackers, spreads and so much goodness it was hard to take in all at once. All that goodness! How could I get it in me?