Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

Some Thanksgiving dishes

This meant that we planned on leaving between my afternoon assignment and my regular evening assignments. Unfortunately, The Gryphon ran into delays getting home from work, so we left about an hour later than planned.

Plus, we ran into horrendous holiday traffic on the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, so we knew we weren't going to make it in time to have dinner with my dad, my sister and her husband. The Gryphon called and told them they should go eat.

Since I was starting about 45 minutes late, I didn't get the usual break that I get at about 8 p.m. I pushed straight through, finishing at about 1 a.m. By then, everyone but The Gryphon had gone to bed. We stayed up for a little while and I fell asleep watching an episode of "Top Chef" on Bravo.

The Gryphon made up the futon for us to sleep on. My sister and her husband had claimed the guest room, since he has really bad allergies and can't sleep in the living room, where my dad's cats hang out.

Thursday morning, my dad was so quiet heading out the door to do his rounds that none of us heard him leaving. I was the next one up and was trying to decide whether it was worth getting a shower and starting my day when my brother called. He had just spoken to my mom, and she told him to call us now, since my sister was supposed to head over to Mom's place to help prepare dinner at 10 a.m.

We got caught up. His family just got a web cam and want everyone else to get them now for teleconferencing. I told them I used to have a web cam and might get one again soon. It might be a little harder to get Mom and Dad started with one, because they didn't grow up with computers. However, if they want to badly enough, I'm sure they'll make an effort to learn how to use them.

The others began waking as they heard me talking, and we passed the phone around for everyone to wish him a happy Thanksgiving. Then we made a foray over to the local convenience store to buy ourselves some coffee.

The Gryphon checked a couple online sources to finalize his plans for cooking the turkey. For the past several years, we've been having Thanksgiving dinner at my dad's place, since it's easier to accommodate more people there.

This year, The Gryphon wanted to do it differently. Last year, he'd started it at a higher temperature, but the buildup in the oven set off the smoke detector. This year, he cooked it longer at a lower temperature. He did some creative things with seasoning to make it yummy, and it turned out tender and delicious.

I didn't have much time to help with anything before starting my afternoon assignment. Typically, I work on it from about quarter after 1 p.m. until about 2:30, and that's about what it took me.

Meanwhile, Mom started sending over dishes for the meal. The Pastor and her son were joining us for dinner, as well, and they arrived, carrying dishes.

When I joined everyone upstairs, The Gryphon, my sister's husband and my sister were finishing up some side dishes, like mashed potatoes and a bean salad. My dad's kitchen is long and narrow, and three people was pretty much capacity. So while I didn't help cook, I did help my sister clear the table and then set it for the meal. We cleared off two sideboards to put the food on, since it would have been hard to pass everything around the table.

We had planned to eat at about 3, which was a good time for everybody. My sister and her husband had to return to Bellefonte that night, since she works in a jewelry store now. Black Friday is a big day, of course, for retail. I, of course, had to do my evening work.

We were sitting down to eat by about 3:30 p.m. Everyone had done a great job. My mom had made a point of cooking healthy dishes since she, my sister and I are all trying to get in better shape for my wedding next year.

My sister's husband and my sister

In addition to the turkey, there was a green salad, cranberry sauce with oranges, yams with pineapple, stuffing, gravy, a green bean salad, and a mashed potato dish.

For dessert, she'd made pumpkin custards served in flans, topped with a spoonful of fat free Cool Whip. This was only one point in Weight Watchers, which means it was under 100 calories with very little fat and probably some fiber.

After grace, we dug into the healthy meal. I spooned myself only a small portion of everything, because there were so many dishes. That was a good way to go; it definitely was enough to fill me up.

Most of our dinnertime conversation, interestingly enough, revolved around food. We talked about the different dishes and what they reminded me of.

The Gryphon and me

When we used to eat our Thanksgiving dinner earlier, at about noon, we could take a walk as a family afterwards. But by the time we finished, it was dark. I helped clear the table and load the dishwasher.

We all hung out in Dad's living room for a while, until people began to drift their separate ways. I didn't have to start until about an hour and a half later than usual, so I got to relax with everyone for a nice, long time.

I tried to finish early, and I might have been able to do it. But sometimes, things run later than expected, especially when you're working on someone else's computer. When I came back upstairs, Dad had gone to bed, and it was just The Gryphon and me. We shared a little downtime with each other before retiring to the guest room.

More from Thanksgiving weekend:

November 30, 2006 - Dynamite Glasses

December 1, 2006 - Holly and Coffee

Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

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