Thanksgiving

It should, perhaps, come as little surprise to those who know how much my mom enjoys cooking / how well my mom cooks that I didn't really think about the fact that "it's nearly Thanksgiving" should've equalled "I should probably think about, say, getting food and how to cook it", rather than just assuming that delicious food magically appears. So, I arrived home at 4PM after working on campus all morning on my muslin mock-up of my bustle/jacket and having a meeting/lunch with the costuming MA girls; what was probably supposed to be a working/intellectual discussion meeting eventually turned into a giggle fest as we made massive fun of the Fine Arts students and their "organic discoveries" and debated leaving the extra chocolate muffins somewhere around the campus with a sign declaring them to be an "interactive art exhibit" that required the audience to eat the muffins for the performance art to be performed. Good times. Anywho, I came home at 4, stopped by Lidl's for a whole chicken (I couldn't find a turkey, and - frankly - I like chicken better anyway), potatoes, carrots, rolls - you know, food. I sent out text messages inviting people along, and Abigail popped into the room a moment after I sent hers (whoops, she was home and just down the hall) - after popping the chicken (now *named* Turkey) in the oven, we wandered down to Marks and Sparks and picked up some sparkling white wine and mulled red. Thankfully for all involved, soon after arriving home, Ciaran and Zara arrived, and I put them on Turkey duty, seeing as they actually have spices and herbs and garlic and onions and yams and all that stuff. (Woot!)

In the meantime, as the meat and veg were cooking, I popped a bunch of honest-to-goodness pan popped popcorn, apples and caramel, and rolls, while everyone else arrived. Abigail made a playlist of "Thanksgiving" songs, though they basically ended up being songs she liked that were loosely tied to America, food, or just being together. While the food was cooking, we all channelled our inner eight-year-olds, turning construction paper into Indian head-dresses. Well, most were Indian head-dresses - Mione's was an impressive headband with cut-out lettering spelling "Happy Thanksgiving", Patrick's feather was actually a spiral that 'boinged' (and poked him in the eye several times during the evening), and Danny's (as she was the resident Canadian) was a maple leaf (although... well... she had to explain what it was). We also informed her that, as she had already HAD her Thanksgiving, she wasn't allowed to be thankful. So there. 

Once the food was cooked and arrived, we carved up the Turkey (well, Amy, then Patrick, then Mione carved it), then sat in a big circle, eating and going around saying what we were thankful for. Well, all but Danny (the Canadian). "Shut up, I'm trying to be thankful!" - Patrick. We finished up the meal with little apple pies and chocolates, then basically laid around the room for awhile, talking, arguing American football vs. rugby, throwing things at each other, and reading scripts. Like you do.

At around 11PM, I called home and, with the help of Patrick and Ciaran, got Skype working and got to see everyone back home. (Yeah!) After that, we just hung out, checking out such Thanksgiving-esque stuff online as stuffonmycat.com and Kate Beaton's comics, until Patrick, Mione, and Ciaran left to go to bed and I took one look at the dishes and said, "Um, I'm going to bed too!" :) Abigail promised to stop by later today to help me clean, so I'm going to take her up on that offer. (heehee) She also took more pictures than I did, so I'll put some of hers up later when I get them. 

On a side note, I looked up the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special and YouTube and absolutely hated it - I never liked Peppermint Patty, and the whole of the special revolves around her being a total brat. And no Lucy! (grumble) I guess between the Great Pumpkin and the Christmas tree, they can't all be winners. I did, however, watch the Thanksgiving West Wing episode "Shibboleth", and still giggle inanely at Sam's Pilgrim Detective TV series.