Thanksgiving Leftovers

Thanksgiving, as usual, came and went with a blur. Some notable moments and thoughts:

I Love a Parade
The Macy*s Thanksgiving Day Parade has always been a centerpiece of my Thanksgiving Day. As a wee lad, it was practically a race to get to Gram’s house for breakfast after church, where my cousins and I would sit in front of the TV without blinking for 3 hours taking it all in. If someone walked in front of the set, it was hell to pay. One year, I even saw it live from the southeast curb of Columbus Circle in the middle of a blizzard after church at St. Patrick’s. To this day, I am still mesmerized by the parade, and it’s not Thanksgiving if I don’t see it. But my kids can’t be bothered. They’ll watch, but they’re not glued to it like I was, and it makes me wonder what’s changed over the years. And I have to say, Meredith Vieira did a great job co-hosting her first parade. Katie who?

Traditional Food
I’m a pure Irishman on my dad’s side, German on my mom’s side, and I grew up not far from Baltimore. So you can imagine that sauerkraut is a staple in our family food traditions. We eat it hot or cold, we’re not fussy, and we love it. But my in-laws do not. Every Thanksgiving, I prepare it, spice it up with red pepper flakes and black pepper, cooking it for hours to get it good and sour. And they hate it. But, like the parade, it’s just not Thanksgiving without it.

Blessings
There were 17 of us for dinner this year, and we usually are led in prayer by my wife’s Uncle Ron. However, this year, the girls led us in a blessing Fiona picked up at preschool that has become our family blessing: “Thank You for the food we eat, Thank You for the world so sweet, Thank You for the birds that sing, Thank You, God, for everything.” When your almost 6 and 4 year olds lead 17 people in prayer it not only brings a tear to the eye, but joy to the heart. When did they get so big?

Blokus
We’re addicted to Blokus. It’s a combination of plot your move and screw your competition bliss and it’s addictive. My wife and I have been playing with my sister-in-law and her husband every time we’re all together, and it’s just plain fun. I won my first game Thanksgiving night and I won’t deny it, I felt awesome. Round after round of losing, I finally smeared them. There’s hope for a PR guy from a toy company after all. Go get Blokus and play it over and over again. Put the kids to bed, uncork a couple bottles of good red wine and screw your neighbor till you win!

Happy Feet
We decided to skip the Black Friday rush and go to the movies instead. 8 of us anxiously awaited the cutest movie of the year, first suffering through 15 minutes of previews (!) and constantly fending the girls off of the bag of Twizzlers and Kissables. The movie was cute, but was overly burdened by a need to make a children’s movie double as a politically charged activist statement about pollution and overfishing. There were a couple parts that were inappropriate and well over a child’s head. What ever happened to a normal G rated movie?

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend!