Thanksgiving

Traditionally, Thanksgiving has not been my favorite holiday. Firstly, I can never eat very much at once, and as a child my stepmother forced me to finish every last bite on my plate, making what is supposed to be the best part of the holiday into the worst, especially considering her cooking. While my mother takes the food itself very seriously and puts much love and professional cooking experience into her Thanksgiving dinners, I seem to remember spending relatively few of those Thursdays with her. The last was several years ago.

Secondly, Thanksgiving, though originally about peace and sharing between people of two different cultures, has become very much about family. Family is extremely important to me. There's no one I care more about than my mom, my dad, and my grandmother. Unfortunately, I've only seen all three of them in the same place once since I was about four. (At my high school graduation.) My mom and my grandmother only get along for about five minutes until they start talking religion, politics, or anything involving the past, my uncle, my mom's current relationship, money, etc. I suspect the only thing they agree on is what a jerk my dad is. (And that's why I like my dad better.) Then throw into the mix my extended family: some distant cousins on my mom's side, my grandma's ex-mother-in-law (long story), my aunt and uncle and five first cousins on my dad's side - all of them together spanning not only the North American continent, literally from Seattle to Philadelphia to Florida to Los Angeles (and nowhere in between), but all the way to Sweden, Australia, and probably beyond. (Who knows anymore?) On top of that, there's Keithen's family, which I seem to have been welcomed into, and am now expected at all of their family gatherings (on both sides) as well. The moral of the story is: People should never get divorced if they have children, if just to save their children money on extra plane tickets. Oh wait, the point I was trying to make is that it would be impossible to have a complete Thanksgiving, or one with even fifty percent of these people in the same area code, and so I am always left with part of me thinking I should be someplace else.


On the happier side, my favorite Thanksgivings are the ones where I get to cook something myself. I may not be the most experienced cook, but I am very good at reading and following directions. So with a few recipes from the backs of cans and the internet, I've managed to put together delicious pumpkin pie and cranberry dressing in the past. Some day, if I have anything to do with it, the entire dinner will be planned and prepared by myself, and my kitchen staff (who will consist of several talented women who look marvelous in aprons) and there will be no men, or mothers, allowed in the kitchen until everything is prepared. Everyone will be amazed and delighted at the meal which I have prepared. Perhaps then it will be my favorite holiday - but I doubt it. The Fourth of July maintains it's top spot, despite there not having been a really good one since about 1984. (Fireworks AND barbeque??? Come on.)

On a side note, I have a theory that people's favorite holidays tend to be the ones they first experienced after being born. I was born in May, so the 4th makes sense. I've known several people born in September and October whose favorite is Halloween. Please comment if you agree or disagree with this theory. (Does not apply to those born right before Christmas - they seem to lose their taste for it after years of having presents bought with whatever's leftover from the Christmas bonus.)

This Thanksgiving 2006 was, for the second year in a row, spent with Keithen's family. It was supposed to be my mom's turn, but his cousin was getting married over the weekend, so we came down here. There was the usual fare with both his mom's family on Thursday, and his dad's family on Friday. I'll refrain from comparing the two, but I will say at the end of weekend I was fully satisfied, felt guilty for not knowing Spanish yet, and thankful - for a surprising number of things.


The Thanksgiving Holiday (rated against other holidays): 5 out of 10
This particular Thanksgiving (opposed to previous Thanksgivings): 8 out of 10

My Mom's Temporary Home

My mom and her boyfriend, Tom have found a temporary home to rent, not far from the old one that Tom grew up in, in Berkeley. This is convenient considering they have to spend the next six months clearing ash and debris out of the old house and rebuilding two thirds of it. The old house, if you saw it, was a 9 out of 10 - beautiful view (except for that one tree), huge living room with a vintage round orange sofa, cozy guestroom complete with 1970s desk lamp and an electric blanket, two bathrooms, the guest bathroom featuring a travel size Scope which expired in 1998. The kitchen was the one sore spot - tiny, a garbage disposal that hadn't worked in about a year, cabinets full of vintage canned foods with archaic label designs whose layouts were done in the old fashioned way, with rulers and gouache. The washer and dryer fit perfectly between the refrigerator and the toaster oven, and the cupboards were filled with the slightly odd collection of dishes that appear when two people who have led very different lives fall in love and combine their collected items. The previously white carpet had become a muddled off-white over the years since my mom and her passion for hostessing had been introduced. Indeed, the house was top-notch, with both character and history.



The new temporary home is so far rather bare, so an update may be needed once the decorating is complete. But there are a few comparison points. The highlight of the house is not one, but two brand new decks, one accessible from each floor, AND an extra balcony off of the master bedroom. That was the main thing missing from the old house. The recently remodeled guest room resembles a large closet, and though it lacks the character, size, lamp, and electric blanket of the old one, it will soon feature a well-arranged bedclothes ensemble (which I helped pick out today) and a rug of some kind. The twin bed is embedded into the wall, as if it was a decorative item on a shelf. I hope they don't have to have a couple over for a night. The kitchen is ugly and small to be frank, and would be adequate for a lesser cook - but my mom is not known for her one-frying-pan meals. One of her favorite past times is making simultaneous pumpkin and apple pies from scratch. Even Tom has enjoyed making homemade marmalade from the (now singed) lemon trees that grow in the front of the old house. Few people have made homemade marmalade, and i am not one of them, but I have heard it's a messy, lengthy process, and requires a very large pot.
There is a small stone-tiled entrance way with one of those glass brick walls, after you come in the front door, which I think has some potential for making a good first impression.
The living room has a cozy fireplace and features a rather nice view, which would be a better selling point if not compared to the sprawling wall of windows in the old living room, from which you could see three bridges and at least 7 official fireworks displays. The furniture in the living room is something I honestly didn't want to sit on, as I have an irrational fear of bad taste rubbing off on me. It came with the house and will probably not be replaced, as my mom and Tom will only be there for about six months. I like that the room is centered around a fireplace and not a TV.
The yard is larger, flatter, and more usable than the old yard. A cute stone walkway lead from a white picket gate to the front door, and there are similar steps going up from the driveway. These, and the assortment of fruit trees surrounding the house, give the overall impression of cute little cottage.

In it's current condition, I give the house a 2 out of ten.

As for it's potential, I give it 6.8 out of ten.