Weekend Warriors

Well, we certainly got our money's worth out of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. I'll start with Thanksgiving morning. At 8:20am Lady Di ran in the Turkey Trot 5K race in Minneapolis. She ran with over 5000 other runners. Thirty-four minutes later, the kids and I were cheering for her as she finished strong. Even though it was cold, watching the kids give Lady Di a big hug after the race gave me a warm feeling. Way to go Lady Di!

We then drove back home to start the turkey and the rest of our meal. Our nephew, Kubes, stopped by to celebrate with us. Before the meal, we had to play a game of Life. When starting the game, you have to decide if you want to go to college first or start a career. Since Kubes hadn't played in years, he couldn't decide where to start so he asked Sweet Pea what his best strategy would be. "I'm not sure what to do. How should I play this game, Sweet Pea?", he implored.

Sweet Pea answered, "First, you spin the spinner. Then you take your car and move that many spaces. Like this...one, two, three, four,..."

He decided to go to college first.

After the game we scrambled to the table to see how much food we could eat. I went around the table asking for preferences for white or dark meat. Sweet Pea requested a turkey leg. "You can't have the whole leg." (that's for Daddy), I admonished.

"Yes I can.", she countered.

Well, at least I got the neck and giblets. And she completely cleaned that leg.

Once we were miserable and in our food comas, Lady Di brought out her homemade pumpkin cream cheese pie with homemade whipped cream. There's always room for pie.

After dinner, Kubes found a nice comfortable spot on the floor while Lady Di and I cleaned up. We spent the rest of the evening joking and watching football.

Friday night found us in Minneapolis again. This time for the Hollidazzle parade. We even got to wave to Lady Di's favorite weather man at the WCCO television building. This is our second year seeing the parade with our friends from LD's hometown. They have kids close to our kids' age and they got along very well. On our way back to the hotel after the parade, two horse drawn carriages were waiting for us. We couldn't resist taking a 15 minute ride through the cold streets, bundled up together with a warm blanket.

Our horse's name was DJ. Sweet Pea wanted to take him home.Lady Di and Sweet Pea enjoyed their snuggle.

After a restless night in the hotel, (Sweet Pea's stomach had had a little too much excitement.) we went to Macy's to view the Christmas display they have every year.

At lunch time we had a small brush with fame. We got a booth at Hell's Kitchen restaurant and were just getting our drinks, when local politician Al Franken walked in. I just about elbowed Lady Di out of the booth when I saw him sit down with some friends two tables away. Lady Di knew just what to do. "Number One Son!"

This election year saw many political ads and N1S was very interested in them. He knew exactly who Al Franken was. When we visited Mr. Franken's political opponent's booth at the State Fair this summer, N1S son said, "Thanks for the sticker, but I think I'm going to vote for Al Franken." He asked the waitress if she knew who was sitting next to them. She said, "Sure, he comes in all the time. Would you like to meet him? He's very nice."

That's all N1S needed as he marched over to Al's table. Followed closely by his little long haired shadow, Sweet Pea. We watched N1S introduce himself and shake Mr. Franken's hand. He then introduced his sister. He then kept talking, about I don't know what, and seemed to go on and on and on. When he came back he said that Al Franken's wife said they had very good manners. He couldn't remember much of anything Al said. I think SP said something about losing three teeth this year.

Regardless of your political views, it was kind of exciting to actually see someone who has been on TV. It was also nice to see the kids use appropriate manners to initiate and hold a conversation. Who knows, if Mr. Franken ends up in the Senate, the kids may end up with an invitation to Washington.

Sunday passed rather quietly. I got a couple of our Christmas trees up and not much else done.

The weekend must have been too much excitement for my stomach too, because Monday morning found me with the stomach flu. Since this post is a bit long, I will save those details for a later post.

Thanksgiving Traditions

Have a Happy Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy Boating, Cranberries, Yams, Pumpkin Pie, Whipped Cream, Hot Buns, Green Bean Casserole, Pilgrim, Big Buckle Hat, Horn-o-Plenty, Fold Out Paper Turkey Centerpiece, Grandma's Dishes, Wine Sipping, Overeating, Belt Loosening, On The Floor Napping, Football Watching, Detroit Lions, Dallas Cowboys, Domino Playing, Uno Cheating, Relative Visiting, Cold Turkey Sandwich Eating, Leftovers for a Week, and (for Lady Di) 5-K Racing, Thanksgiving Day.

We certainly do have an awful lot to be thankful for. God Bless.

Turkey, Rock Stars and Parades

Thanksgiving weekend was a busy one for the 'Stuff' household. We had a nice gathering at Lady Di's sister's house for Thanksgiving. Our brother-in-law put out a sumptuous banquet as usual. He made three types of turkey and I had much of all three. I did save room for pie though. And by saving room I mean, I ate until I was miserable and then forced two pieces of pie down.

We ended up staying a little later than we had planned. After playing a few games of Catchphrase, we thought it was time to get the kids home and to bed. This was about ten o'clock in the evening. Our nephew then decided to bring out his Guitar Hero game. It was all over after that. We ended up staying until midnight. Number One Son got the hang of the guitar pretty quickly. You can see him in the picture above. Sweet Pea was a little too young to get the timing right and got frustrated when the game booed her. She did a good job dancing and being a groupie while others played, though.

Lady Di had so much fun that she challenged N1S to a 'rock off'. They each played the same song simultaneously to see who would rock it better. The scores were pretty close, but N1S edged Mom by about 1000 points. Too bad Lady Di.

At least Lady Di played better than her sister. I don't think she was able to finish a song before the game booed her off the stage. Her sister thought that singing the song while playing helped your score. Sorry, Sue, but I guess you just don't rock like you used to.

Later that weekend, our family journeyed to downtown Minneapolis for the Holidazzle Parade. We braved twenty degree temps and gale force winds to watch the lighted floats. This parade occurs every night until Christmas. We went on the first night and froze our butts because the floats were spaced so far apart that we kept wondering if it was over yet. I guess you never want to go on the first night.

Despite the cold, the kids enjoyed seeing the floats. Their favorite was the 'Wizard of Oz' float because the Wicked Witch rode a bicycle behind the float where everyone booed her. We met our friends and their kids to watch the parade. The cold must have brought the kids closer together, because they really got along well for just meeting. But, I guess that's what kids do best. The rock star and groupie are on the right.

We stayed in a hotel that night which was a rare treat for us. We did have to hide the basket of goodies left out by the hotel management though. I really couldn't afford a $4 Snickers bar. The next morning we all visited Macy's department store. And believe it or not, we didn't go to shop. Macy's eighth floor has a Christmas display every year and this year's theme was The Nutcracker. It had sixteen different displays with various animatronic people and animals moving around. We all enjoyed strolling through and taking in the spectacle.

After the Holidazzle on Friday and The Nutcracker on Saturday, I was exhausted by Saturday afternoon. Once we found our way out of the city we still had one more stop before going home. We pulled into the parking lot at Cabela's to see the fish, animals and goose calls. I saw a lot of things that would look nice under the tree this year. My wallet didn't see eye to eye with me though. Hopefully, Santa will get my letter.

We have had a pretty good start to our holiday season so far. I hope we can find time to see a holiday show or see Santa before Christmas. Next week, we decorate the trees. That's right, I said Trees.

Only Fifteen Shopping Days Until Thanksgiving.

Halloween has come and gone. The Christmas shopping season has already started. In the rush to get Halloween decorations put away and the rush to get the inflatable Santa on the roof, don't forget about the other holiday in between.

Thanksgiving is the unassuming, humble holiday that doesn't get the respect it deserves. There are very few Turkey Day holiday specials on TV. Charlie Brown has one and I remember a pilgrim cartoon on PBS when I was younger. The kids' book orders include one Thanksgiving book per every ten Christmas, Kwanzaa and Hanukkah books for sale. There are no brown and orange Thanksgiving lights on the house either. Growing up, our Thanksgiving decorations pretty much comprised of the Cornucopia centerpiece, the pilgrim candles (half melted), and the accordion-fold-out paper turkey. Nowadays, our family has added window clings and, of course, the kids' traced hand turkeys. Other than that, Thanksgiving is just the halfway point on the way to Christmas. It just seems that Halloween and Christmas have grown so large that they are squeezing Thanksgiving out.

But that's not to say that Thanksgiving isn't a fun, memorable, family holiday. One of our family traditions is to watch the movie, Trains, Planes and Automobiles in November. It's a good family comedy except for the one car rental scene. You may want to mute it for thirty seconds or so. This is our favorite Thanksgiving movie. Right now I can't think of any other Thanksgiving movies. Other than that, we pretty much observe the same traditions that every one else does. We eat turkey and pumpkin pie. After overeating, we roll into the living room to watch the Detroit Lions play football. After that we dress in our Pilgrim and Native American costumes and reenact the landing at Plymouth Rock. Just normal things that all families do.

A few weeks ago, I posted about the types of books and movies that I'm drawn to in October. I also have a set of interests for November. I already mentioned Planes, Trains and Automobiles. I also tend to listen to more Aaron Copland music in the days preceding Turkey Day. Listening to Appalachian Spring or Rodeo(the Beef Council song) makes me think of family eating gatherings.

I don't seem to read anything particularly seasonal. I usually read Ten Fat Turkeys to Sweet Pea, but that doesn't have a whole lot of giving thanks. If anyone has any good November reading suggestions, I'm open to them.

It's unfair that Thanksgiving gets the reputation of being the warm up act for Christmas. It is an important holiday. A time to pray and thank God for our blessings. Maybe it is good that Thanksgiving hasn't been as commercialized as much as other holidays. That way it's easier to concentrate on Thanksgiving's true meaning.

A day off to get the Christmas lights on the roof.