Today was Turkey day, yay! I got a lovely run/walk in with my two girlies. Best part of my day. I wore my gloves, and they wore my other two sets of gloves. So I had three sweaty pairs of gloves at the end. I also taught them to run Fartleks (where we run single file and the last person in line springs around to the front.) There were only three of us so it was the shortest sprinting line ever. Over and over again for at least a mile. It was great.

After that my husband indulged my long held desire to wrap the 100 year old apple tree in blue Christmas lights. Hemming and hawing he got it done. He stopped once when he realized he put the strand of lights through the top wrung of his ladder. Hecouldn’t remove the ladder without pulling down the lights.

We averted disaster, thankfully, due to quick thinking from this mama who saw a connection he could unplug and reminded him no one is perfect!

He then decided the best way to plug it in was to knot an extension cord from a branch of the tree stretching to the deck so it hangs in the air like a clothes line. It is bright yellow with a red light at the end. It looks surprisingly Chevvy Chase-like in the middle of our lawn. I asked him politely if we could run it along the ground. He declined. I left to go shower.

When I exited the piping hot shower and did my clothes and make-up, the girls were hollaring at me for taking too long. See, they were excited to see their cousins and we were supposed to meet them at Grandma’s house for Thanksgiving supper at 12:00 sharp. It was 11:00 when we left the house and walked up to Grandma’s.

The cousins didn’t arrive until 12:45. In the meantime, we’d played the card game War. We watched an entire World Cup soccer game (go Portugal), listened to Grandma complain about the cousins being late, and answered Briana’s queries about how much longer til they would get here. About 200 times. To add to the excitement, every car that went by my husband asked “is it them?”

Being a teacher, I tried to make it a teachable moment “Have you ever heard the expression, ‘a watched kettle doesn’t boil?’ Only to be told “Mom, we don’t want to hear it.” and “Yes it does, if you watch it long enough.” The latter comment was from my husband.

Let’s just say it was a loooong Thanksgiving supper with us not staggering home until 5:00. Me, going stir crazy, thinking about some tech issues for my online business http://www.copywithlaura.com and the girls wanting to play little kid games that their older cousin didn’t. And then the usual political discussions came up.

Oh and my poor sister in law forgot the rolls. THAT IS A BIG NO-NO! Keep in mind my mother in law buys store bought frozen dough and puts them in the oven only to forget they were there so they are burnt on the bottom. Then she slathers them with something called “I can’t believe it’s Not Butter” (what IS that stuff anyway????).

But for us to NOT HAVE ROLLS IS A THANKSGIVING EMERGENCY. And one which Sara, my sister in law will be admonished for for years to come. Now, it could be Sara promised rolls and didn’t deliver (her squash was a amazing though.) It could be her husband promised rolls but forgot to mention it to his wife. (He also promised they would be there at 12:00 sharp.) Or it could be that the idea of roll-bringing was assumed and that in failing to deliver, it fulfilled the need for drama that my mother in law was looking for. It will be a reason to criticize, dramatize and ridicule for years to come. It was simply too good an opportunity to pass up.

What complete and utter nonsense.

And I am so over nonsense.

Tomorrow we will venture to my parents house. We will have a second Thanksgiving and, if tradition holds, my dad will forget the asparagus in the microwave! It will only to be discovered later while we are all eating pie.

Here’s hoping you are enjoying a yummy meal wherever you are and have someone nearby who loves you.

Tell me your wackiest Thanksgiving story in the comments below!