So, today, the fam is on the way to the first vacation in a long long time. So we are vacating whilst having the Thanksgiving day festivities. It is going to be a great time… that has been needed for a long long time. Did I mention “long long time?” ….because you know, “long long time.”
Anyway… since it is a holiday week, I am breaking out the holiday tropes… The topic for this edition is, unsurprisingly, Thanksgiving.
Thanks this week go to: Guido, Lsig, Allrileyedup, Capt. McArmypants, and Some Other Guy. On to the questions!
1. Whose house does your family usually go to for Thanksgiving?
We typically have the whole Thanksgiving thing at our house, with my family now and most, if not all of my family growing up. This year, however, we are heading out of town and visiting with no one. I think it is a welcome respite from the typical Thanksgiving hosting duties.
2. Whose job is it to kill “the bird”?
By “kill” I assume you mean either purchase or prepare. Purchase? Well, whomever goes grocery shopping that week. Sometimes me, sometimes Wifey and sometimes the Ma-in-Law. Prepare? Never me, I hate touching poultry. CANNOT STAND IT. So either Wifey or Ma-in-Law do the bird preparations.
3. Are you for, or against, putting up Christmas decorations prior to Thanksgiving? Personally, I’m against, I prefer my holidays one at a time.
One holiday at a time, please. Now, we will put up decor the day after, often. This year it will be the week after Turkey-Day.
4. Is it tradition for you to eat absolutely as much as possible? I try to have a little of everything, which turns into a lot of something!
Umm… I am not quite sure how to respond to this with something other than just a big ole “YES.”
5. Do you have any non-standard foods that must be part of your T-day feast?
Not especially. We tend to stay pretty traditional. Ham, Turkey, corn, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, etc…
6. Do you call your turkey “Tom”? (I insist on calling ours Pablo. Pablo Pavo (Pavo being Spanish for turkey).
I think we only refer to the turkey as “the bird.” Sometimes the “stupid bird,” or “that fucking bird in the bag.”
7. Who does the bulk of your thanksgiving cooking?
My wife and her mom do pretty much every bit of the cooking for the feast.
8. Do you go around and say what you are thankful for like they do on tv?
Yup, we all sit on one side of the table and try to avoid looking at the audience while we say what we are thankful for and watch clips from past episodes fade in and fade out. Who doesn’t love a clip show?
9. Pumpkin pie? (I vote yes)
Hells yes! With whipped cream, of course.
10. What is your favorite T-day tradition?
Umm… The eating of the foods. Is there any other tradition to look forward to?
11. How many T-day traditions do you have?
We really don’t have too many traditions, per se. They mainly revolve around the food and the eating thereof. So as a family we typically have 2. The cooking and the eating…
12. Why does T-day get so shafted by Christmas?
Well, because Christmas also has a big meal associated with it, but, oh so much more. There are gifts, and decorations, and carols, and TV shows, and wrapping paper, and trees, and lights, and food (often much of the same foods). Plus, it is only a month away. I am sure some people use Thanksgiving Day as a dry run or dress rehearsal for their Christmas Day feast.
13. What artwork has the children (or perhaps just one of them) brought home?
I don’t remember… I am a bad parent… maybe Little Man has done one of those turkey hands or something.
14. I am all for cultural appreciation, but I think sometimes we overlook the obvious. When eating partially fermented Bird Fetus with yolk still in the egg or pickled pigs feet or diet ice cream remember that people ate these things because they were starving not because they enjoyed it. Which traditional Turkey Day treat do you give the maddest props to in terms of awful but still served at the table for the sake of TRADITION?
I think sweet potatoes or cranberry sauce would be the two that I think of.
15. Which traditional food be yer favorite?
Yaaarrrrr, Sausage stuffing be my favorite. as long as it not be corn bread stuffing or too soppy, it be the blessed food of the seven seas, yarrrr.
16. Which tradition be yer favorite?
Tis, the tradition of nae touching the raw bird, that be my favorite, once ye gets past the traditional grub’n’eatings.
17. 24 NOV 11: Looking forward to the main course or the Dessert more? 24 NOV 85: Looked forward to the main course or the dessert?
This is a really interesting question. I am currently really looking forward to the main course, whereas in 85 an 11 year old me was looking forward to spice cake with cream cheese frosting and pumpkin pie with whipped cream.
18. When you get “into the Holiday spirit” do you try focus on the “thanks” for what you have or the “giving” to others?
I think I am more concerned with the whole “giving” thing, mainly because I need to figure out what they want. Piffle, who am I kidding? I am focusing on what I am getting.
19. Best Thanksgiving Day story?
Well, one year the Mom-in-Law (refered to as “M” in this story) invited her elderly neighbor whose husand had died previously that year, we will refer to her as “R.” Little Man’s surrogate grandparents, brought their elderly Alzheimer riddled neighbor, let’s call him “J.”
J: M, Whatever Happened to that nice man who lived next door to you?
R: **Cries softly**
M: He died this year, R is his widow.
J: Oh, that’s terrible. I am sorry for you loss, R.
R: **More crying**
—Ten minutes Pass—
J: M, Whatever Happened to that nice man who lived next door to you?
R: **Cries softly**
M: He died this year, R is his widow.
J: Oh, that’s terrible. I am sorry for you loss, R.
R: **More crying**
—Ten Minutes Later—
J: M, Whatever Happened to that nice man who lived next door to you?
R: **Cries softly**
M: He died this year, R is his widow.
J: Oh, that’s terrible. I am sorry for you loss, R.
R: **More crying**
—Rinse and Repeat ad Infinitum—The best Thanksgiving story ever.
20. If you weren’t able to spend your Thanksgiving at your house or at a relatives, where would you spend your Thanksgiving?
To recap:
Wild, Wonderful
5 hours of driving in the rain
Through backwoods county roads
In the rain
Close to being serpentine 1 lane roads
I shouldn’t be dramatic
We stopped for 30 minutes for lunch
It was really 4.5 hours
I have to format this and get it posted
Have a great holiday, all you US folk out there
Have a great weekend everyone else
And I guess you US folk could have a great weekend too