Thanksgiving

I'm at a Capitals game right now. It's first intermission. Normally I get up and walk the concourse during the intermission, but I don't feel like it. I'm going to sit right here instead

It's the night before Thanksgiving, and Slapshot is dressed like a pilgrim. It's not a good look. The Capitals are winning 1-0, and the crowd is happy because it’s a long weekend. And because we're at a hockey game, so what's not to be happy about?

I'm not cooking tomorrow, except for potatoes, which I will make tomorrow; and macaroni salad, which I made before we left for the game. Macaroni salad has nothing to do with Thanksgiving but people asked me to make it, and I bow to the will of the people. I have mixed feelings about not cooking. Normally, I'm all for any arrangement that gets me out of the kitchen, but me hosting Thanksgiving is kind of a tradition and you don't monkey with tradition. Plus what about leftovers? Did no one consider the leftovers? Did no one think this through?

*****
Now it’s Thanksgiving, one of my very favorite days of the year. I woke up early, peeled potatoes, and walked the neighborhood with my friends. It’s something of a tradition. We call it the Turkey Trot, because we’re like that. The potatoes are ready now, and I’m soaking in the November light at 2:30 PM. In another week, we’ll have a different kind of beautiful pale golden gray sky, but not exactly this kind.

My mother-in-law is making dinner. She made Thanksgiving dinner one other time, when I had a new baby at home, and I think it was fine. She’s a very good cook in any cuisine. I don’t know if she’ll remember to make stuffing, but I suppose I can do without the stuffing. I can’t, however, do without the jellied cranberry sauce from a can, so I’m bringing my own, just in case.

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11:30 PM. Dinner was delicious, and she always makes too much of everything, so we have more than enough leftovers. And the Capitals won, too. Thankfulness abounds.