I believe I said that

I had an amazing Thanksgiving.

Wednesday night I went out after work for a few hours with people from work, and got to talk to Bruce for a while, he used to be my boss but then he left the company and started his own. He has a share of season tickets to the 76ers and I said "so are you taking me to a game this year?" and he said yes so we're going on the 11th. I'm excited. I still haven't picked someone on whom to have a crush on the Sixers this year . . . two years ago it was Jumaine Jones, but then they traded him, so last year it was Matt Harpring, but then they traded HIM, so now I have to make another decision.

I left the bar around eight-thirty. I was okay to drive, and I did so. I found out the next day that one of the women there, with whom I work, got into an accident on the way home and was arrested for DUI. Bruce and Dave were following her home (which is EXTREMELY helpful, in my opinion, as this instance illustrates) and they said she just swerved into incoming traffic. Wonderful. No one was injured, thank goodness. People are idiots.

I came home and hung out with Mitch for a while. I get giddier when I go out to drink, as opposed to being at home or someone else's house; I'm not sure if it's because I'm out, or because I'm not smoking, or what. But I got home and danced around and we smoked and I was crazy and Mitch said that he was going home so that I could get ready for the next day. As soon as he was out the door I raced into my bedroom and under the covers and fell asleep in my clothes. Mitch called at 11:30 (at the time I figured I had only been asleep for like fifteen minutes, thirty at the most (turns out it was more like two hours)) and woke me up, and we spoke, I suppose, and then I fell asleep again. But don't be scared! I awoke at one ay em, sober and rested and READY TO CLEAN!!

I didn't clean. But I did make a brine for the turkey. I put salt and brown sugar and peppercorns and maybe something else I don't remember into my big stock pot and boiled it. Oh and garlic, I put garlic cloves in because when something calls for garlic, I put in more than is called for, and if it DOESN'T call for garlic, I throw some in. I love garlic. Then I put the pot in the fridge, because you can't put an uncooked turkey in hot water. I had to wait for the damn thing to cool, which took forEVar.

While I was waiting, I baked brownies. "From scratch". I put this in quotations because my mom always made brownies from scratch, but I didn't KNOW they were from scratch, because I didn't KNOW you could buy brownie mix. I mean I guess I saw the ads on television, but I thought that was . . . I dunno, something you did when you were bored, like those crappy break-off frozen cookie things, not something . . . I don't know, I just never considered the brownie mix. I was amazed at how much better my mom's brownies were than anyone else's brownies, I had no idea what they were doing wrong, and now I know. And now I make the best brownies ever as well (similar to the Best Crumb Cake Ever, except brownies, and not crumb cake) and I'm still eating them and they're fucking good.

So I baked brownies and maybe cleaned a little, I don't remember. And then cleaned the turkey and put it in the brine. And went the fuck to BED at four in the morning.

Then Thursday I awoke and cleaned like a whirling dervish. A whirling, cleaning dervish. I'm not even really clear on WHAT a whirling dervish is, but I bet if one had a dust mop in its hand, it would dust things very much. I cleaned, and put the turkey in the oven, and went to Super G to buy fresh bread and autumnly-colored flowers. I have these four leetle flower vases that I bought at Gina's Princess House Party ages ago, and they're so cute and perfect and I can put one in the bathroom and one on the coffee table and a couple on the dining room table and it looks gorgeous.

I cleaned so much! I can WALK AROUND in my bedroom! It's amazing! It won't last.

My family arrived a half hour late which was PERFECT because I wasn't ready at one, but I was at one-thirty. My mom brought lemon meringue pie and stuffing and smashed turnips and pumpkin pie and bread she had made in her breadmaker, and my grandma brought the green bean casserole and apple pie. They asked to see the bird and I SHOWED IT TO THEM and man oh man, it was freaking gorgeous. And basting, basting is so much fun! The boys got to watch football but I was stuck in the kitchen, preparing the smashed potatoes and the steamed vegetables. Man, my grandpa came into the kitchen right after I had drained the boiled potatoes, and he asked if I was going to smash them with a potato smasher, and I said yes, here is the smasher, and he smashed them! He couldn't help it. They must have been calling to him. He just started smashing them, and said "I haven't done this in years." I made 5 pounds of Yukon gold potatoes which turned out to be FAR TOO MUCH POTATO for six people at a dinner with four other sides. But they were yellow and delicious.

The turkey was GORGEOUS. I had asked my mom to bring a platter, because I didn't have one, and she brought me one to keep. It's HUGE and white and the turkey was a breath-taking golden brown, and the red onions and oranges and bay leaves with which I had stuffed it were spilling out and the COLORS, oh man, best turkey ever. And it tasted DELICIOUS. My mom made the gravy for me on the stove and she kept saying "this gravy is SO GOOD!" which meant that the turkey was EVEN BETTER. I really think the brining made a huge difference, because even the legs had a . . . a seasoningy taste to them, which the stuffing-with-oranges-and-onions-and-bay-leaves would not have affected much. I did such a good job with my first Thanksgiving, I am so proud of myself and so was my family. Because my family was a little late, I was able to change right before they arrived, into nice pants and a cute top, and my grandma kept saying "and she looks so good, like it's so easy!" and I kept saying "you should have seen me a half hour before you got here!" Everybody was happy, it was such a wonderful Thanksgiving. My grandparents are old, they're 82, and they kept saying that they didn't really want to do Thanksgiving at their house anymore but we kept doing it anyway until I stepped up, and I'm so happy that I did and that they got to see my apartment and taste my cooking.

We watched the obligatory G movie which we always do when we see my grandparents on holidays. My mom had rented Ice Age, and it was actually pretty funny! And my grandpa dropped his eyeglasses and the screw fell out but I had one of those eyeglass fixer kits, and I actually knew where it was in my apartment, which is sort of amazing. So I saved the day.

Then they had to go home and I was sad because I love them and it was so good to see them and I hope they know how much I love them. Oh and I didn't get to talk to my brother enough, that was a shame, but he's still real tall.

And that is how I celebrated Thanksgiving this year, the end.

I was excited about Thanksgiving before, hype to cook for my family, to have my grandparents see my apartment. Then on Sunday I was watching football and they mentioned the Thursday games and allofasudden it hit me BAM. See, at previous Thanksgivings, I never really hung out in the kitchen with my mom and grandma and great-aunt Florence; I'm usually in the living room watching football with my dad and grandpa and brother. And the sounds, man, the sounds of football, you know? I've only really been paying attention to football for three seasons now, but the sounds of football, man, that's Thanksgiving, you know? And eating mixed nuts, and those weird things my mom makes -- celery sticks with cream cheese in them, only the cream cheese has DATES in it, ew. Only the grown-ups eat those.

I went grocery shopping, and got everything I need to get, except for flowers and fresh bread, which I will get Thursday morning. I bought a new tablecloth and new dishes and new cloth napkins, I shouldn't have, I didn't need to, but I did. The plates are red and the napkins are olive green and the tablecloth is "natural" and it's going to look great. They're arriving at one and we're eating at three and if the turkey takes about four hours to cook, and I have to brine it for eight hours, then that means I have to put it in the brine at three in the morning? Amazing! I don't mind, I'll do it.

This is the first Wednesday-prior-to-Thanksgiving that won't be spent in the car on the way back home; but I don't think I'm going out, Biggest Bar Night Of The Year or no. I'm not from around here, and the Biggest Bar Night Of The Year is (so I hear) very much a high school reunion, but not MY high school, not around here. I may go to the bar with the people from work, right after work, but not too long, and then I'll head out. I'll stay home and smoke and vacuum and mop and tidy and play Mario and it will be wonderful. And then I'll get up at three in the morning to brine my turkey. So to speak.