Thanksgiving is over, and all I can say is "Whew! What a weekend!" It was jam-packed with family and friends, from beginning to end, and was absolutely exhausting. Of course, I could use that word ("exhausting," that is) to describe just about every day since, oh, about October 9, 2003. :)
Wednesday:
Since we were holding our first Thanksgiving this year, I took Wednesday off to cook. I made mashers, meat-free gravy*, homemade cornbread, sweet potato casserole, broccoli and stuffing casserole, greenbean casserole (that's a lot of casseroles) and even some Toll House cookies, just because all the cooking got me hungry and I had a taste for them. All of the dishes turned out great, but I think I made some bad decisions on which ones to cook all the way on Wednesday (and reheat before the meal) and which ones to cook on Thanksgiving Day. Some of the dishes looked wonderful on Wed., but not so wonderful after getting nuked on Thurs. :)
On Wednesday night, Regina (Al's mom) and Michel (Al's sister) came from Alabama and Rob (Al's brother) and Marcia (Rob's girlfriend) flew in from Chicago.
Thursday:
On Thursday, Ralph (Regina's boyfriend) and Heath (Michel's boyfriend) drove in from Alabama, and Todd (my brother) and Matt (my friend) came over. We had a full house for the feast: ten adults, one baby, four dogs, and a very freaked-out cat. It was a little bit of a struggle to figure out how to seat everyone after Alecia vetoed my "everyone can sit on the couch and watch football while they eat" idea, but we made it work. Our apologies to Matt, Michel and Todd, who all had to sit at the kids' table. As the respective babies of their families, I'm sure it wasn't anything they aren't used to. Heck, as the youngest of 12, Matt probably feels uncomfortable when sitting at a table with the grown-ups. :)
Anyway, the meal was good, and my first turkey turned out okay. It was a 16-pounder, and came out tasting like it should've--not too dry or undercooked. Alecia's trick didn't work as well as she'd have liked, but it was a good idea. After the meal, Ralph and Heath had to head out, but everyone else stayed around to play Battle of the Sexes (which the guys were kicking butt at, but mysteriously lost their lead while I was out of the room setting up the webcam) and Loaded Questions, which was won so quickly by Marcia that we decided to play for second and third...which took forever. We found out that it's a great game to get to know people with, but that you can sometimes know people too well. Todd's affection for "Cheetos and Porn" and Rob's love of "Hookers and Blow" made for some strange answers by the end of the night. Heck, I can't even remember who got second or third. I only know that I was in last place and in danger of getting lapped by Marcia, who started over on the gameboard after winning, and only ended up a few spaces behind me when the game came to a late end.
Friday:
On Friday, I accompanied the Nastoff klan to Olive Garden (I misspelled what? According to Rob, I may not have! haha--mean inside joke.). After that, we all went mall-walking. It was nice people-watching, but Alecia and I found ourselves wishing our neices and nephews had already given us their wish lists, so that we could take advantage of the after Christmas sales. Oh, and I saw something I would love to add to my own list. It was basically a stand-alone Nintendo emulator that allowed you to play Duck Hunt, Super Mario, Excitebike, etc. by attaching the joystick (or gun) to your TV's RCA jacks. It was being sold at a stand in the center of the mall, and I can't find anything like it online, but it was like a dose of instant, portable nostalgia. I'm not sure it was worth the price (the guido claimed it was regularly going for $85, but he would sell it to me for $55), or that it was even legal, but it was cool.
Saturday:
During the day, I spent some quality time with Maddie while Rob and Marcia unsuccessfully tried to visit the High Museum (Note to Rob and Marcia: Sorry for your confusion, but when I said turn left on Peachtree Street, I meant Peachtree Street...not West Peachtree, Peachtree Place, Peachtree Hills, or any of the other 32 roads that have "Peachtree" in the title. I probably should have clarified this before you left the house.) and the rest of the group went deal-shopping. It was a good day, topped off with a trip to see Elf, while Grandma Regina babysat. (Fun movie with plenty of laughs--even if the ending was a little cheesy.)
Sunday:
After taking Rob and Marcia to the airport at 7:30am, I upheld a relatively new annual tradition by stopping on the way home and picking out a Christmas tree. Of course, with the frosty weather and odd hours, I had to do it without baby and mother, but the thought's what counts. Sadly, we were too exhausted to actually decorate the thing, but it does make for a good air freshener. Our living room smells wonderfully piney at the moment. We'll get some lights and ornaments on the thing tonight. Later in the day, after the last of our guests had headed back to Alybamy, my Dutch soccer pal Jeroen and his beautiful wife Jane came over with their adorable daughter Lillian. They brought the cutest little Old Navy jumper and some shirts for Maddie, and stayed long enough to compare baby stories. It was great seeing them, but their quick exit--though a good thing since we were so tired--made me wonder if I did something wrong. (Yes, I am that neurotic.) Once the house was ours again, Maddie and Alecia closed out the weekend with a four-hour nap, while I got the decorations out of the shed, watched the Colts game on ReplayTV, and mourned the fact that my fantasy team is about to drop out of first place on the last week of the fantasy regular season.
That about sums up our weekend. We took way too few pictures and almost no video. We need to get better at that, but we had so much else to think about. Now, we're putting the focus on getting our Christmas cards out (warning: they may be digital) and buying gifts for everyone. We head to Mishawaka in 2 1/2 weeks, so time is of the essence!
* By the way, the meat-free gravy was for Rob and Marcia. I was told they were vegetarian, so I scoured the planet for meat-free recipes for cornbread, stuffing, even gravy. Little did I know that Marcia was Vegan, not vegetarian. Big difference. I had nothing for her to eat that didn't have dairy or eggs, so she was forced to make her own pasta and eat a much less filling Thanksgiving feast. And no jokes about Veganism, please. I absolutely defend her right to be an incredibly picky and high-maintenance eater for totally arbitrary and hypocritical reasons. Heh heh, just kidding, Marcia. Vegans don't beat people up, do they? ;)
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