Happy Thanksgiving!
I guess the only place to start with a day as action-packed
as this one has been is at the beginning.
Ethan and Ehlana gave Rowen, Mandy, and I our wake-up call;
though Mandy was only willing accept a little cuddling and some scratching
before curling up and going back to sleep again for a while. Rowen opted for a long, hot shower instead of
joining Mandy while the rest of us were exercising, so she was ready to go for
the day by the time we’d finished our Tai Chi; and helped out with making
breakfast with Dad while Mom and I hit the showers next.
She also had time for a little chat with Michael before he
went home, and while she attempted to get some birthday hints from him; he
earned bonus points for not caving in while also helping Rowen to feel at least
a bit better about it too. Ethan and
Ehlana provided her with the pre-breakfast entertainment that helped to keep
her distracted for a while; and we were in Thanksgiving planning mode while
eating – with Mom giving us the rundown on what needed to be done between the
end of breakfast and when we needed to be at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s
house.
Uncle Adam was dealing with the turkey, but we were
contributing some of the pre-cooked food for lunch; had prep work to do for the
main veggies for dinner; and had to round up everything from bottles of wine to
ice cream to take with us. Mom had
dropped off our Olde Bakery contributions yesterday, so we didn’t have boxes of
pies and treats too; but by the time Michael came over again to go with us for
lunch; we ended up pretty much filling the back of the minivan so that Mom and
Dad could haul everything two doors down the street instead of making a
half-dozen trips on foot. Michael,
Ehlana, Ethan, and I walked there, but that was mostly because that didn’t take
any longer than buckling the twins into their seats for that short of a trip.
Rowen had gone home after breakfast so that she could help
her parents out with their own holiday work; and Mom and Dad kept me busy for
that few hours of busy before some of us got to get started on the fun parts of
the day. For me, that began pretty much
from the moment Aunt Leanne welcomed us into the house and made a big deal
about introducing Michael to everyone who was there so far as my boyfriend –
though Barb and Corey were the only people there who didn’t know him; and Barb
certainly knew his parents and family even if she’d moved away from Witch Falls
before he or Rebecca were born. Since
she didn’t use any of the ‘I haven’t seen you since...’ platitudes; it was
obvious that Barb didn’t even remember seeing Michael before on any of her rare
visits home. Now that I’m thinking about
it, she didn’t even ask us to pass on any greetings to his parents or anyone
else in Michael’s family. While that
doesn’t really surprise me; it is a bit sad.
I could say the same thing about parts of our family Thanksgiving
dinner, but I’ll get to that with the evening part of the report.
Michael and I were not on the lunch prep crew, and while we
played with Ethan, Ehlana, and some of the other kids for a while; we also got
to have a turn taking care of Zack too – just in case we didn’t get a chance to
do that later. He was a bit on the
cranky side because of the company overload, and he was much happier and
quieter after Aunt Leanne nursed him and he went down for a nap right before
the rest of us had lunch. Michael and I
weren’t the only lunch guests who wouldn’t be staying for dinner too. Uncle Nick, Aunt Deborah, and Leah were doing
the big meal with his family; and they’d brought Naomi along with them so that
she could have a little play time with Ethan and Ehlana while her parents were
busy helping Grandma and Grandpa Ayres at their house. I expected that Michael and I would end up
with the younger kids, but the grandparents and great-grandparents ended up
doing that while we sat with Mom, Dad, Uncle Nick, and Aunt Deborah.
Is it wrong to suggest that we would have had more fun with
the toddlers – especially on Thanksgiving?
Maybe, and it’s not as if the meal conversation was terrible or
excruciatingly boring – but it wasn’t great entertainment either.
Since it is Thanksgiving, though, I’ll spare you the
details.
Michael and I helped with the clean-up, and then it was time
for us to head over to his Uncle Bill and Aunt Sylvia’s house for the rest of
the afternoon. We went through a fairly
similar welcome and introduction to the one we’d had at my aunt and uncle’s
house; except this time it was Miranda happily introducing me as Michael’s
girlfriend; and keeping everyone entertained with that for a few minutes. One thing that is different – or at least
feels more like my family when everyone is home – is that there’s a big age
range between oldest and youngest cousin; with Michael and I just about in the
middle of that.
While Jake and Stephanie couldn’t be home, Michael’s cousin,
Mitch, was home from college for the weekend; and he and Lynn Jennings were
having Thanksgiving dinner with his family too.
I don’t know if more coin flips were done like Michael and I did; but
Erica Bassett and Caleb Palmer were with us for the big meal too – though with
Josiah and Christina at her house this year; the Palmers were having an ‘away’
family holiday anyway. Rebecca didn’t
bring Jason, but that wasn’t a surprise; since they were having issues anyway,
and he was probably as focused on football as the rest of our team’s players
and coaches are right now. Of course
that didn’t keep Caleb from spending most of the day with Erica; but then they’re
a true match – just like Michael and I are.
Since I’m on that thought, let’s skip ahead for a moment to
our one outdoor adventure of the day.
Michael and I took Jessica, Ryan, and Sophia out for some play time and
fresh air before dinner. We collected
Ethan, Ehlana, Rowen, Patrick, and some of their cousins along the way; and
went to the school instead of the park because Mitch and Caleb had gone there
for a little pick-up football that Kyle may have nudged along in place of a
full team practice if for no other reason than to make sure his teammates
didn’t just fatten themselves up all day ahead of the big game.
While I could have lived without the extra football, we had
a blast; and there was the added bonus that Tim was there and eventually spent a
little time with Michael, Rowen, and me before we all needed to be at our
various dinner destinations. Ryan,
Ethan, Patrick, and some of the other, younger boys all got to have football
moments too; while the younger girls ended up splitting their time between a
little cheerleading fun with Erica and some of the other girls; and some
playground action once the younger boys were done with their little football
adventure.
I skipped over some in-house, afternoon play and chat time
that happened before we went outside, but I won’t do that for the dinner. There hasn’t been a Thanksgiving dinner that
I haven’t loved since moving here – or really even before that; though Mom and
I didn’t exactly make huge meals when it was just the two of us. It also isn’t fair to compare our meal today
to any others because most families don’t have a world-class chef cooking most
of the food for them. For those of you
who have been lucky enough to experience a Jacob Stone holiday meal; you know
what I’m talking about. For everyone
else, ignorance really can be bliss, and you might want to think about skipping
this part of the update.
Let’s begin by talking turkey. If I took some leftovers home, I’m sure that
I could give you a very accurate analysis of everything that went into making
it, in exact quantities; and scientifically explain the reactions the human
body has to the interaction of those flavors and scents. That would be boring, and do absolutely
nothing to describe just how awesome the experience of actually eating the food
was for most of us. I can’t say that for
everyone, because there were a couple of people at the table with turkey
aversions. Fortunately for them, Jacob
had their special needs taken care of with equally delicious alternatives.
Jacob didn’t cook everything any more than he did everything
at the Inn; but his hands at least touched everything that went on the table
except for the drinks and Olde Bakery breads, buns, and desserts. Those touches meant that everything had that
little extra-special taste or scent, and in some cases – even the visual
display had a special touch added. I
suppose you could say that all five senses were served if you include the feel
of the mouth-watering foods and that you heard exactly the right noises you
should with everything.
Okay, that seems weird, but you know what I mean. We’ve all eaten food that isn’t supposed to
crunch, but does; and soggy mush when crisp and crunchy should have been the
goal is equally unpleasant. Before you
stick any labels on me for that comment, don’t forget that I can remember
everything I’ve ever eaten with perfect recall – including every type of baby
food Mom experimented with while we figured out what I did and didn’t
like. Most other people have the luxury
of forgetting those bad culinary experiences.
The good part of that is getting to remember amazing moments like today
too.
Michael and I were at the ‘kids’ section of the dining room
table for dinner, but so were Rebecca, Erica, and Caleb; so we had lots of help
with the younger kids. Mitch and Lynn
had ‘graduated’ to the adult section of the table now that they were college
students; and they were far enough away that we didn’t really talk with them at
all – though we did get a chance to hear about some of their college adventures
during the clean-up. I don’t exchange
email with either of them; but do get occasional updates about how they’re
doing from Alicia – and through my email exchanges with Isabelle and Andrew.
I’ve mentioned the cousin favorites for Michael’s family before,
and Erica is still at the top of the list for Jessica and Sophia; though she
isn’t able to spend as much time with them as she could before hitting high
school and helping out more at the grocery store. Michael is Ryan’s favorite, and I was again reminded
today that we need to try and make more time for Michael’s cousins too – though
I have no idea how to juggle everything we should be doing more of when we’re
already so busy. I rarely think about
them as cousins because Rebecca and Erica are pretty good friends too, and that
bond is stronger again now that they’re both in high school.
Rebecca was quiet today; and I think she was a bit sad
too. That was at least partly because
she was the only teen in the house who wasn’t spending the day with a boyfriend
or girlfriend; and I don’t mind admitting that I’m a little annoyed that Jason
apparently didn’t want to do anything with her – even if they couldn’t have
dinner together. I wouldn’t dream of
blaming their entire situation on Jason – especially when a big part of the
problem is Jacob, Miranda, and the other adult couples in Rebecca’s life. They’ve set the bar for happily-ever-after so
high that it’s tough for any potential boyfriends – or girlfriends – who might
be interested in their kids to measure up.
I’ve been doing okay with that so far, but don’t forget that
only a few people in Michael’s family know that I’m a billionaire Magi
Master. :^) Fortunately, everyone else seems to like me
well-enough too without that information.
So dinner was best-ever kind of awesome, and the younger
cousins kept us entertained while we ate.
The clean-up was massive, but we managed to have fun with that too for
the hour or so it took to get the dining room and kitchen sparkling clean
again. That was the end of the
Bassett-Stone family Thanksgiving for Michael and me – and for a handful of
other guests that needed to move on to other commitments for the evening. The good bye hugs and kisses took a while,
particularly with the younger kids; but eventually Michael and I were on our
way back to Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s house to hang out there for a couple
of hours.
I didn’t get all of the details until later, after we were
home for the night; but their big dinner was apparently quite the adventure –
and not always in a good way. Aunt
Leanne hadn’t tried springing any major surprises on Barb, knowing that
wouldn’t go over well with her childhood best friend; but it doesn’t sound as
though inviting Barb’s family to dinner went nearly as well as she’d hoped it
would.
Since readers may be getting this story in the distant
future, I’ll add a little background here.
Barb’s parents are Stan and Betty Benton. They’re from the early baby-boomer crop born
in the first few years after World War Two, so they’re recently semi-retired;
and I think they’re a very nice couple – though I don’t really know them very
well. They have three children, but
Barb’s older brother and sister are ten and a bit more than eleven years older
than she is, and while I know that kind of age gap will never be a problem for
Ethan, Ehlana, and me; it was for Barb while she was growing up. I’m not going to go into everything, so let’s
just say that Barb’s parents live a modest, happy life. They don’t score success by the numbers in
their bank accounts; and are content and feel blessed by what they do have –
loving friends and family. They have
five grandchildren; four of them are currently in college; the fifth graduated
a couple of years ago and works and lives in Crystal Springs;
and they’re very proud of all of them.
Three of them were home, and at the Thanksgiving dinner; while the other
two are at schools too far away for them to afford flying home for just four
days.
Everyone who had been there for dinner was still at the
house when Michael and I got there, and the empathic vibes were strong enough
that Michael probably sensed at least some of what was going on even without
overtly using his empathy. We were there
while some childhood storytelling was going on; and there was a wide range of
reactions to those memories. Barb was
mortified by anything that revealed how poor her family was – and is now by her
standards. While I knew that she and
Corey both don’t want to have kids, I’m sure now that the main reason Barb
feels that way is because she still resents spending so much of her teen years
babysitting her nieces and nephews – especially because she was often doing
that for free while her parents, brother, sister, and their spouses all worked
jobs that didn’t pay enough to afford ‘real’ babysitters or nannies.
When you’re reading this sometime in the future, Ethan and
Ehlana; be glad that I love spending the time with you – and getting paid in
hugs and kisses. I really hope you
remember that in case you find yourselves in Barb’s position some day and get
asked to babysit your nieces and nephews.
Don’t worry Mom and Dad – I don’t plan on getting around to
that part of my life for quite a while yet!
Okay, without dragging this out endlessly; the Benton family reunion
wasn’t all joy and happiness; but they were at least mostly together for the
first time in years. That made Barb’s
mother happy and sad, which is why I’m sure that my thoughts tonight about
helping Barb’s family out will be an easy sell for Mom and Aunt Leanne when I talk
to them about it next week. If nothing
else, they have four grandkids that will be graduating from college over the
next few years; and I’m sure we can find work for them that will get their
careers off to a good start – whether they want to live here in Witch Falls or
somewhere else.
Michael and I split our time between a visit with the adults
in the living room and play time with the kids on the third floor. I got to have a bit of time with Zack too,
but that was right before Aunt Leanne nursed him and put him to bed in his
crib. The goodbyes started right before
that, and continued on until Mom, Dad, Ethan, Ehlana, Michael, and I were the
last guests standing. We helped with a
last round of cleaning and dishwashing; and then headed home too. Michael came in and stayed long enough to
help with getting Ethan and Ehlana into bed; we had a short chat with Mom and
Dad that included one last run-through of our plans for Friday and Saturday;
and then Mom and Dad went up to bed while Michael and I spent five or ten
minutes saying goodnight to each other in a completely non-verbal way that left
us both smiling when he headed over to his house.
I’ve been in my room since then, and have been busy with
getting my bag packed for the trip; wrapping Rowen’s gifts; and spending some
time with my Jacuzzi. Somehow we fit all
of that fun into one day, and it was only a bit past midnight when I hopped
into bed with Mandy and started the lite version of my nightly computing. We’re skipping Tai Chi in the morning because
of the Black Friday breakfast buffet at the Inn,
but I still need to be up early; so it’s time to wrap this up and get some
sleep.
This was an awesome start to the holiday weekend, and if all
goes well; tomorrow will be even better!
Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!
