Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

The Gryphon and I left on Wednesday afternoon to visit my parents in Central Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving. We left right after my afternoon assignment, so that I could get there in time to do my evening work and wouldn't have to miss any work.

Traffic on the roads was worse than I'd anticipated, and it took longer to get home than I thought it would. I still had enough time to spare to have a quick bite to eat before work. The Gryphon got us subs at the local Subway.

Thanksgiving Day itself, I also had my regular assignments, plus one extra one in the morning. It was easy to work that stuff in and still have time to socialize.

The Gryphon volunteered to do the turkey, and he did a great job with it. He used all sorts of spices and cooked it with some vegetables inside that added to the overall flavor. It turned out tender and tasty. This despite the fact that, when he tried to turn the oven temperature up to 500 in order to brown it for a short time at a high temperature, something on the oven door created smoke that kept setting off the smoke alarm until we got the place aired out.

This year we didn't have as many people at the Wilson family Thanksgiving: just me, The Gryphon, my Dad, my Mom, the Pastor and her sons. We also didn't go as overboard on side dishes. In addition to the turkey, there were green beans, whipped sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and stuffing.

We also had some wine, a family tradition. But this time, we forgot to do a toast. That's OK, we usually just express our thanks for friends and family and good food.

Of course, there were three desserts to choose from: pumpkin pie, cherry pie and a carrot cake. The Gryphon had made the carrot cake when he made one to leave for our friend The Dormouse, who kindly agreed to watch our kitty, Luke, while we were out of town.

Even though my brother and sister weren't there, we talked to both of them on the phone for a nice long time. My sister was with her in-laws in Virginia, and my brother and his little family were enjoying a quiet Thanksgiving just the three of them. He told me that my nephew had some turkey baby food with a few other things and that he seemed excited about all the food, even though he couldn't eat most of it.

It was a running joke between The Gryphon and I that my dog, Una, thought she'd get to sit at the table this year. Of course, she doesn't understand English, so even if I had promised this, she wouldn't know. She did, however, sit at my feet, waiting for scraps, and I gave her a little turkey.

My dog's sister, Emma, who is my sister's dog, was also there because she couldn't attend Thanksgiving dinner with my sister's in-laws. Emma and Una had a good time playing with each other and spending time together. Although when I was working, Una often joined me downstairs while Emma stayed upstairs with The Gryphon, whom she just loves.

I hung around with everybody until I had to start work. We had a nice time, sitting at the table, talking and laughing. About the time I had to work, about 7, everybody but Dad and The Gryphon left anyway.

I was hoping to get done early enough to hang out with my Dad and The Gryphon, but Dad had already gone to bed when I finished. I stayed up with The Gryphon before falling asleep watching a James Bond movie on TV.

The reports had called for snow, so we brought our winter boots, but the only snow we got was a little dusting on Wednesday night, that was gone the next morning.

More from Thanksgiving 2005:

November 29, 2005 - FedEx Adventure

November 30, 2005 - Shopping Excursion

December 1, 2005 - Extra Time

Copyright 2005 by Alyce Wilson

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