Thanksgiving Day

My sister (the bad one, not to be confused with the other who is....the bad one......not to be confused with how they describe me........the bad one) called Thanksgiving Day and told me she called my mom (who is spending Thanksgiving with the rest of the family at my other sister's) and told her how sorry she and I were that we could not make Thanksgiving dinner this year because we really, really wanted to be there with them. There was a pause and then bigggggggggg laughter erupted from my sister. We are the WORST FAMILY ON EARTH. 

You can put us together and add a dozen other people and still, it is rare for a Thanksgiving dinner to last more than 15 minutes because everyone can't wait to get away. We had a family reunion once where we timed from when the last plate was set on the table to the time the first plate was taken away. Thirteen minutes. People had taken planes to be at that Thanksgiving dinner. 

I just heard about one friend's Thanksgiving dinner yesterday where everyone at the table had to say out loud what they were thankful for and when my friend said the new president, her sister erupted with screaming about how he was a baby killer, then turned red with anger and then got so worked up she started "speaking in tongues." Yes. Thanksgiving. Quantity confined time with family. I don't have the stamina to do it every year (not to mention the patience required to handle the shenanigans of the airlines). 

So then there's my tradition of making a Thanksgiving dinner and serving it to all my pets. Before Thanksgiving everyone thinks this is so darn peculiar and eccentric and weird and after flying back from being with their families, they say they wish they had done the same thing. Ha ha ha.

So yesterday I made a turkey and stuffing, cornbread, sweet potatoes, a Silver Palate black pepper, chive and ricotta bread....some other stuff too. I'll have to look in the refrigerator and see what I missed. Anyway, the gray stray was waiting all day but arrived too early for a turkey dinner because I was so late in getting started. But I think he knew what was up. I got to keep the back door open because the weather was sunny and near 60 degrees. A really pretty day to spend time in the kitchen.

"Well, stop taking pictures and get back in there and cook. I might have all day but I don't have all day. Focus lady, focus."

Since I got such a late start on the whole cooking thing, nothing was ready until about 8 or 9 pm. Eli showed up at the appropriate time and had a plate of turkey set out for him. He had let it be known earlier that he wanted dinner but the smell of turkey just turned him extra feral so as soon as I would spy him, he would bolt out of the yard. I'm surprised I was even able to get this shot of him. He probably thought I couldn't see him (with those eyes?????????).

But he calmed down a lot after the first plate (notice-no "Children of the Damned" eyes) to come back and ask for a seconds and this time he got an even bigger plate of turkey.

Freddie the raccoon never showed up although I looked for him until 1 am. I do hope that Freddie shows up eventually. I'm curious to see what he would try first. Since everything is carried from hand to mouth, I don't think he'd be very happy with mashed potatoes and gravy.... unless I give him a spoon. But I do have two finger bowls waiting for him when he does show up.

The birds got their plates of food but would they let me take a photograph? No. They see that camera and they do everything they can to get away from it and tell me no at the same time. So, since I will have leftovers for days, I'll try to reenact the experience over the next several days and try to take a photograph again. Not promising anything. :-/

This is the first year I attempted serving Eddie some stuffing (cornbread) and that was definitely not a success. It wasn't eaten. When Eddie doesn't like something she picks up the side of her plate and pushes it to the floor. Eddie had transferred all the food that she did like into her seed dish on top of her cage and then, the stuffing left on the plate was shoved to the floor with great enthusiasm. Good thing I didn't use the china. :-)

Everyone's a critic. Animals, people, they're all weird as all get out and impossible to please. Put me in that group too because although I do think of family, friends and pets on Thanksgiving Day and am sincerely thankful they are all in my life.........just don't make me stay put with any of them for more than 15 minutes, I've got things to do.