More on Thanksgiving

Dragon Mood? -- awake and downloading

Our Thanksgiving celebration included thirteen of us adults and two grandbabies: two-month-old Madison, who I barely saw as she got passed around the relatives, and 20-month-old Preston who was all decked out in a little white oxford shirt and snazzy pint-sized dress pants; Tim and his girlfriend, Nicki (sp?); Mark and Lindsey; new parents, Matt and Sarah; Sarah's family, Hope and Sean, and teenage brother, Corey; the Wisconsin contingent, Josh and Caroline; and S and me.

Meanwhile, the bird is cooking out on the porch, the potatoes are simmering on the stove, leaves are flying out in the backyard and Caroline, the Mistress of the Autumnal Fire has got a roaring one going out on the deck in the firepit. As for me, --yawn-- I was tired and took a little nap. It was such a beautiful day, relaxed and anticipatory, that we were all unshowered and still in our grubbies when our guests began to arrive.

Amazingly, I think we actually had dinner on the table around six. Matt carved the bird -- although he would be the first to admit that it was so juicy, the meat literally fell off the bones. S made her hearty gravy (mental note for next year: have pineapple juice on hand in case the drippings from the brined bird are too salty!) and Josh carved the wined-and-cloved ham. Hope mashed and seasoned the potatoes, Sean made and brought a yummy spicy cheese dip appetizer and I believe I heard Corey serenading us on the piano with multiple renditions of "Body and Soul" on the piano. It was definitely a group effort and a fun one!

We stood around the dining room table, all thirteen of us, holding hands and taking turns saying one thing for which we are grateful. Although it was anything but a solemn prayer, I definitely felt that for those moments, we were connected in a beyond-this-world sense and sharing in a moment of sacredness. Voicing our gratitude like that never fails to move me.

Going from the sublime to the very earthy, the other dynamic that contributed to the relaxed and burnished memory of this day was THE WINE. Lina had brought six? seven? bottles of wine home from Wisconsin, a variety of them and none of which I can name. I think it was seven bottles. Well, folks, we drank six of them that day. Yup, all six of those bottles got drunk which lent a a lovely glow to an already glowing day.

I'm running out of recounting time here, but the evening included intense euchre whuppings, more combinations of people drinking and smoking around the "campfire" outside, whipped cream playtime between Matt and Caroline, playtime with Preston, conversations about sex toys and many more things that I never witnessed but heard about later. It was one of those times when you wish you could be in multiple places at once.