Thanksgiving a-go-go

I'm not sure why I titled it that way, I just thought it sounded good. Anyway.

So my aunt and uncle were in town from Illinois for Thanksgiving, which was totally fun. My mom comes from a family of seriously hilarious people, and in order to marry into the family, you also have to have a great sense of humor. And a big mouth, otherwise you’ll never get a word in edgewise. I can’t imagine where I get it from…anyway, my mom and her sister went to town in the kitchen on Thanksgiving. Turkey and ham and a brazillion (tm Alice) side dishes – for six of us. It was borderline ridiculous. Ridiculously YUM. Plus, my dad made pies, and he makes the best pies. I was so full after dinner, but my aunt had made this sweet potato dish with brown sugar and pecans and it was so good I just wanted to lay my face in it and take a little nap. Oh no I didn’t. Ok, yes I did. But I didn’t actually do it.

However, all the fun stuff came later. My aunt and uncle are in a band, and for as long as I can remember, we’ve always sang at family gatherings. So my uncle and my brother got out their guitars, and my aunt and I sang songs we’ve been singing since I was little, plus songs everyone knows. My uncle plays and my brother improvises with him, and my aunt sings and I improvise the harmonies – I’m just going to brag here and say we sounded pretty damn good. Then it turned into “hey, have you heard this song?” and we were getting out cds and playing different songs here and there, all sounding awesome on the surround sound in my parents’ living room. Somehow we got on the subject of one of my favorite renditions of “Proud Mary” – nobody does it like Ike and Tina Turner did it. So we put that on and I start doing my imitation of Tina Turner and the dance she does to “Proud Mary.” Then my mom and my aunt decide they’re going to be my back up dancers. We’re laughing and there’s a lot of hair tossing and strutting across the living room, and frankly, I don’t know how Tina Turner could do that show and still stay on key what with the throwing your arms in the air and the running across the stage in stillettos. That’s a lot of moving around when you're also trying to sing. My dad videotaped it, but luckily the song ended before my brother got his camera out – otherwise I would have been at the mercy of his blackmail pictures for the rest of my life.

Anyway, it was so much fun. I can’t really tell you all of the hilarity that ensued over the few days that they were here, because not only would you have to be there, but you’d have to understand my family’s humor, and it’s just not something I can explain. But man, did we ever laugh.

Saturday night was my night out with the girls – Karen, Kendra and Beth (look at my pretty friends!!). We went to dinner at our favorite restaurant (Café Jordano) and then went to Karen’s and hung out. As luck would have it (or not) I was the focus of all the teasing for the evening. Which is fine – I’ve been on the giving end plenty of times before and am confident that the time will come again. Muahahahahahahahahaaaaa. What? Luckily, Karen’s husband John came home and tried to divert attention from the girls’ single-minded quest to make me want to sink further into my chair, covered completely by a down blanket. The diversion was successful for about .05 seconds, and then the train got back on the track. And since I know they’re reading this – no, I’m not mad, yes, I know why you were doing it, and yes, of course I would totally do it for you. I can also say that no matter what, I always love nights like that, because I may have mentioned it before – I have the best friends in the entire world. Unfortunately, now it’s Monday and my four days of living in a work-free, fun-only zone are at an end. But I won’t focus on that, and instead be thankful for the pretty much constant fun of the past four days with my family and my friends. I’m so lucky.