Thanksgiving is that time of year when you sit across from dear family members and act grateful and gracious because family is all there is in the world.
Giggle.
Ok, but seriously, I do realize how special a family is. It's just that everything went right yesterday, which is just like it was last year. And the year before that. And the year before that. I never went home for Thanksgiving during college and THOSE were some Thanksgiving weekends!
First year was with Kim and her family, who are Italian. So, they're loud and nosy and wonderful. The food is also very loud and wonderful. Plus, Kim's fam has this awesome movie collection that is right up my alley.
Second year was with Andrea? Kim again? Andrea has five siblings, plus her parents, plus her aunts/uncles/cousins in the nearby area. Yeah, try eating two Thanksgiving meals in one weekend.... oh-so-much fun! I think I went back to Ripon weighing ten pounds more. Literally.
Third year was with Andrea again? Did I ever spend Thanksgiving with you Em?
This is scary, I can't remember who was which year....even my senior year. Thayne went to Charlotte to hang with his dad and Charlene's family. I didn't go because I couldn't afford the airfare (Thayne's dad paid for him). But I do know I spent Thanksgiving with Kim, Andrea, Em? But never with Erin (although we did go to her house for a weekend once) or anyone else's home.
The year after Ripon, my cousin and his wife flew in from England. That was killer. Stephen is hilarious and all of my friends MUST meet him at least once in their lifetimes. He really is a special person and possibly my favorite relative. The year after that was just the three of us, and then we flew to England/Paris for Christmas. Last year was also just the three of us, but it was good because I had started school and had stories from Norway.
This year it was Mom, Dad, me, Fern and Ken Douglas - a friend of Dad's who is also a friend of Peter Weiglin's. Peter and Dad did the whole ELKS lodge thing together back in the day. Peter and Ken know each other through train stuff, among other things. See, Peter is waaay into model trains/real trains/train stories/etc. He's building a huge, fantastic model train thingy down in his basement in Cincinnati, Ohio. And the wedding we were all at in October (in Tahoe) was Dawn's wedding. Dawn is Peter's daughter. So, we saw Ken there and he didn't have any Thanksgiving plans, so we invited him up here.
End of story.
P.S. Nothing much happened, except Dad kicked butt in Balderdash and I kicked butt in Scattergories. Fern placed well in both games - damn, her English is getting good! And I spent near to $150 on wine for Christmas presents. Luckily, $80 of it gets paid back to me by Em. Gracias Em!