Thanksgiving Traditions

      When I was a kid, we had the usual Thanksgiving traditions: lazy morning spent watching the Macy's Parade, hectic afternoon spent in a flurry of cooking, boisterous evening surrounded by too much family, stuffing our bellies with too much food, and a slightly uncomfortable night recovering from it all.

     Now that it's just the two of us and we live 5 hours away from one side of the family and 8 hours away from the other, we spend Thanksgiving at home, just us.  One or the other of us usually has to work the weekend after, so we don't have enough time to make the long drive to either family.
     It's actually quite nice. The first year I realized we had to spend the holiday without family, I'll admit I cried a little. But it turned out to be really fun and relaxing.
     We're not really tradition sort of people, but we are creatures of habits. So even our holidays tend to have the same basic rhythm.  We sleep in and laze around in the morning. I still watch the Parade (forcing The Boy™ to watch), calling Sister when the Rockettes come on. We oo and aah over their costumes and loveliness, then wish each other a happy holiday before getting on with our days.
      Since it's just us, we don't have to worry about pleasing a lot of varied pallets for the meal itself. We usually make a meatless turkey alternative, mushroom gravy, potatoes (white and sweet,) roasted root vegetables, stuffing, bread, cranberry sauce and a vegetable of some sort. And of course pie. Half an apple for him and half a pumpkin for me.

     After dinner, we chill out. The years we can afford cable, we watch Punkin Chunkin on Discover Channel (which, if you've never seen it, is the BEST part of Thanksgiving Day. Check it out this year. Seriously.) Otherwise, we just watch whatever looks good.  Sometimes, if we're not passed out from food coma, we'll play a game or two. Since we don't have to drive home, or wait for gaggles of relatives to leave, we can go to bed whenever we want. Usually on the early side.

   Whatever your Thanksgiving traditions, I hope you have a happy one.

Eric

     Since we're on the topic of my brothers (we sort of are, from the last post,) I'll share with you my favorite memory of my other brother.) 

     

      Eric is sixteen months older than I am. To say we fought from the day I was brought home from the hospital would not be an exaggeration. Not that we had a terrible relationship, but siblings that close in age are prone to rivalry. 

    This particular incident occurred when I was three years old. Maybe four? The event revolves around a sippy cup, so I wasn't any older than four.

Probably this type of Tupperware Sippy Cup. Note the lids.

     I was across the street at a friend's house for lunch. I recall her mother having a rule: if we finished our lunch - including the juice in the sippy cups - we could have a piece of gum. This must have been a real treat for me; I don't recall my own mother allowing us to have gum at that age.  

    We had finished our lunches, but were still working on the juice. I had no interest in juice. I wasn't thirsty, I wanted a piece of gum.  We were out in the front yard and my brother came over. I don't remember what I did or what I said to indicate there was a problem, but he asked me what was wrong. I explained to him the juice/gum problem.

     "Oh, that's easy." He said. "Here's what you do." He showed me how to take the lid off the sippy cup and dump the juice out onto the grass.

     "You have to dump the juice on the grass and not on the driveway," he explained, "They can see the wet spot on the driveway and you'll get in trouble." He put the lid back on the cup and gave it back to me.

     Well, folks, I was absolutely astonished. I had no idea the top came off the cup (don't ask me how I thought the juice got in the cup in the first place. That was Adult Magic.) My brother just performed some kind of sneaky miracle. We had just pulled a fast one on the grown ups and we were going to get away with it!

    That little incident sums up pretty much all you need to know about my brother Eric. That's his way of thinking and doing things in a nutshell, for better or for worse.