thanksgiving turkey

in my mind and heart, thanksgiving dinner must include turkey...just as christmas dinner must.  in recent years, my canadian thanksgiving has consisted of a wonderful turkey dinner at cindy's on sunday and then another fabulous turkey dinner at nick and natasha's on monday.  last year i was dealing with skin cancer treatment on my lip that made it look too grotesque to inflict on people trying to eat so i refused both dinners.  i thought i'd be sure to have my turkey dinner for christmas, though.  i was wrong.  shelley cooked chicken and it was very nice but it wasn't turkey.

this year i was all excited about making up for last year when cindy dropped the bombshell that, since some of her invited guests(children) couldn't or weren't sure they'd make it, dinner was off.  she was mad as a wet hen and i was worried about losing out on turkey dinner #1.  i used whining and logic on her...a family dinner didn't have to have the whole family there but could still be a wonderful family affair for whoever showed up.  cindy saw the light and cooked a terrific turkey dinner for tyson, kyle, kim, me, don, and herself.  our little family dinner couldn't have been nicer had 20 more people been there so i was right.

i learned something from my grandsons, too.  nowadays when a friend drinks a little too much and passes out or falls into a deep sleep, his friends decorate his body with magic marker.  tyson had such an indignity imposed upon him recently and thought he'd cleaned it all off before going out the next day but he'd neglected to check the back of his shaved head.  friends can be sneaky.

today is thanksgiving turkey dinner #2 at nick and natasha's house.  this dinner had also been in danger of being cancelled because natasha's father passed away last week but they decided that he would have wanted them to carry on with the traditional family dinner.  he'll be in all of our thoughts today as we add another beautiful family memory for ourselves and for the little ones.

i'm very thankful for another turkey dinner.