In many ways, this turned out to be one of the best of the 56 Thanksgivings I have been around for. The turkey on the grill experiment worked out fine. I learned a few things for future consumption and a couple little parts of the bird got singed too much. My cutting of the turkey left a lot to be desired. But it was very tasty turkey.
My wife made her killer fruit salad and contributed a pea dish from a recipe she had seen in a newspaper as well as supervising all the other nifty side dishes that go with a Thanksgiving meal. Our friend Steph came up with some yummy potatoes and a nifty stuffing dish with a nice kick to it. Our friend Sharon came with yams - something I had never had before. Our friend James brought some wonderful wine.
Steph invited one of the assistant basketball coaches at Hamline, a fellow I didn't know very well before today. Chris proved to be a delightful fellow, pitching right in to help with the turkey and even broadened his horizons a bit by having the ultimate in ginger ale, Vernors.
But what made this such a special day was the general feeling of good will that persisted all day in the house. People, including some who didn't know each other very well until today, got together for good food, repast, conversation and left with doggy bags of food for the next several days. For one afternoon, there were no arguments over about how stupid this politician is for his or her view on an issue. People spent the time smiling and listening to each other's stories - even if they didn't always understand the subjects.
At night, one of my favorite feel-good movies "Love Actually" was on. Finally (at about 11 p.m.), Pete, the Happy Dog (who had a good day, too - lots of attention and a turkey treat at dinner) and I took a late night stroll on a wonderfully crisp night -- the type where the air feels sharp ... and wonderful.
There are plenty of days to point fingers, scream about perceived injustices and yell at people. Thankfully, today was not one of them.
But here is what I will always remember about Thanksgiving 2009 on Cottage Avenue: at the end of the day, six people parted in a happy, contented state.
When is the last time you could say that?
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3 comments:
Dave, Wonderful blog and so good to hear from you, unexpectedly. E-mail me! My e-mail is on my blog site, I think still on the front page...Michael Langlois
I couldn't agree more about how great the day was. It's one of my favorites, too. Thanks so much for hosting, for grilling a great turkey, and to your lovely bride for putting everything together in seamless fashion.
MY pleasure. Your contribution (s) was critical to the success of the day. Hope your pal Chris had a good time, too.
But I feel bad we didn't have the Scrabble game!
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