Thusday, 28-Nov-13

So for the last… ohh… my entire conscious life, I’ve spent Thanksgiving with my Mother’s family – Grandparents, Aunts and Uncle and Cousins.  Last year I was the only one from my immediate family who was able to attend, but it was still an excellent time.  This year, however, I was feeling a bit adventurous and cooped up – I’d been living with tradition and “normalcy” far too long, and I needed to mix things up a bit.  So instead of driving out to Lexington, I accepted an invitation from my Cousins and headed out of the city to have Thanksgiving with the Costas’ for the first time!

• The day started out with a relaxing and slow morning, since I don’t really do much but have a nice cup of coffee and read a bit.
• Drive out late morning, keep the top down for a perfectly crisp ride in the late fall / early winter air… it’s cold, but enjoyably cold.
• arrive, park, and go on in!  Seeing younger kids for the first time in a while is always fun… they were scared and shy at first, but after not too long Ryan was telling me all about his Lego Mindstorms kit that he got for school, and Zoe was running around kicking a little soccer ball at me 🙂
• Hang out with the relatives and catch up… it’s not really surprising in theory, but it’s always impressive to me how much new stuff can happen in the course of a year or two.  We had an amazing amount of stuff to talk about, and didn’t even come close to fully catching up.
• As is traditional, we ate and drank and sat around the kitchen while the hosts did the final prep work on the bird / sides.  One major difference about this portion of my family – they are fans of spirits.  Lots of neat mixed drinks were had.
• Thanksgiving dinner!  Amazing!  I mean… what else is there to say?  I couldn’t describe how good the food was; nothing I say could do it justice.
• While the adults clean up, Ryan & Zoe and myself all go play in the basement
  • We swapped between playing fancy electronic scavanger hunt games, and playing a combination of soccer and basketball… simply so that we could both run and carry the ball.
  • Football was eliminated from the rules because it allows tackling… and that wouldn’t really be fair 😛  Also – less crying and fighting if there’s penalties for tackling.
  • Ryan actually called a penalty on himself when he accidentally tripped Zoe.  I was impressed… though less impressed when he got pegged by the penalty kick 😛
• Dessert happened.  See comment on dinner and my inability to describe it.
• After we finally finished eating (for the time being) I sat back on the couch, relaxed, and finally got a chance to sit back and chat with Paul.  He’s in the consulting business, actually at the same place that I used to consult, so we got to share stories from the trenches and tales of woe about dealing with the companies bureaucracy.
• Good times were had by all
• After a while, I had my last cup of coffee (with Frangelico in it, if I recall) and headed home.  I kept the top down for the first bit, but had to bring it back up before I got onto the full highway.  COLD!

Friday, 29-nov-13

In Medway, we follow through with the tradition of Thanksgiving 2.0!  Since the year that we started having Thanksgiving at the retirement community that my Grandparents are staying at, I’ve pushed for “Thanksgiving 2.0” on Friday.  It gives us the chance to spend time with the family… but also gives the excuse to cook a full meal still.  See, the community there does dinner as a semi-group, and we usually eat in the dining hall.  It’s not bad… but it’s just not the same.

• Drive out again, late morning this time though, instead of early afternoon.
• The reason for leaving early?  I need to grab cheeses and last minute parts on the way.  So I find some rather amazingly delicious cheese rolls, and bring them along!
• I get to Medway before too long, come in, and start the standard-issue hang out and catch up dance that we always do.  But this event is a lot lower-key, so I spend a bit of time gnoshing, and a bit of time reading as well.
• My sister cooks and cooks, slowly filling the house with platters and dishes, plates and cookie sheets.  All full of things I’d never even heard of before.
• Dinner!  Complete with a menu and courses and fanciness abounding!  Seriously, my sister made a full menu.  Not only for us, but so she wouldn’t forget about a course.  It was a full page long.  Yep.
• Relax for a bit after dinner, and let the many many dishes digest.
• Hannukah happens, lighting and saying the prayers and it’s nice.
• Dessert throws down – just as good as dinner, if not better.
• Play Pandemic with Mom, Steve & Sue… we win.  Dangerously close, but we do win.  It’s a neat game – cooperative boardgame, where you’re playing as CDC agents trying to stop the outbreak of four diseases.  You collect cards, move around, and try to stop the diseases from spreading too far.
• Game a bit with Steve… it’s an interesting game, but kinda too surreal for me.
• Read for a bit, and crash on the couch in prep for the next day of adventure!