Thanksgiving was always my mom's favorite holiday. She loved being together, the food, the fun, the perparations. We certainly appreciate the invitations from family and friends over the years to spend the holiday together, but my mom liked it best when we stayed home and, well, did it the way we liked it. It got a bit tougher in recent years, trying to match up food favorites (whipped cream!) with kashrut issues (turkey), but we managed. To be honest, the last few Thanksgiving holidays have been tough. Nothing feels right without mom. That is, until this year.
This year, JoJo came up from Charlotte, Morgan came down from Pittsburgh and it was just us, having a grand time. On Wednesday, the family, sans JoJo (she had yet to arrive) lunched at City Cafe, a favorite place that we hadn't been to since Steven's birthday. Morgan and I did a bunch a prep cooking, getting the dairy stuff out of the way, and we grabbed Pei Wei for dinner since the kitchen was in full swing. That night, Morgan, Rob and Romi went to pick JoJo up from the airport. It was late, but we told Romi he could go if he was all ready for bed upon departure. This meant he jumped in the car wearing pajamas, his Crocs, the crocheted orange scarf I made him, and his pilot hat from Nana and Papa. Yes, he looked adorable, but the really amusing part was that JoJo, Rob and I all made independent Captain and Tennille comments. The kids had no idea what the rest of us were talking about, but I guess when you get old love really will keep you together!
On Thursday JoJo and I headed to the gym before the cooking got serious. Everything went fine until JoJo's dumb bell mysteriously went rolling around the gym. Her hysterical laughter was the hardest part of her workout that day. She insists it was a ghost, but I'm not sure she can blame the supernatural for this one. When we returned home we had no trouble keeping busy in between preparations. JoJo invented the game of using a kid's sleeping bag to slide down the stairs, and everyone took a turn, including Shoshana. We also had a dance party in the dining room. Instead of participating, Rob took video. Sheesh!
We sat down for an early dinner, completely aware that we would need to wait three hours before pie. You know it's good Thanksgiving when there are more dishes on the table then people sitting around it. We loaded up the dining room and added mom's laptop so Gabi could join us for dinner. It truly made it Thanksgiving, having her there with us. The food was amazing, the conversation hysterical, a great holiday.
After dinner we wandered over to the Lunkens. They and the 20-plus immediate family members celebrating together made us feel right at home. We trekked home in the cold night air, working up a pie appetite. Well, most of us walked. Romi rode triumphantly on the shoulders of Morgan and JoJo, like a young king. He even sang the circus song. As Heather always says, the force is strong with that one.
On Friday the girls spent the day with Hedi in Hampden, eating and shopping and kibbutzing. We had to hurry home to prepare more food for Shabbat, believe it or not. We figured Shababt dinner was our chance to rectify some missing dishes from our meat meal the day before and we made some truly amazing mashed potatoes, laden with cream and butter.
As soon as Shabbat was out, JoJo and I headed to Pikesville of all places to get her nose piecered. Her kids were not in favor of it, but she persevered in the face of their disapproval. (Morgan even told her it would be unprofessional and Gabi gave way too many details of how much it would hurt.) It looks great!
Sunday saw us eating once again, this time at Belvedere, and heading out for duck pin bowling. Rob simply can't wait until Joel comes back to they can experience this one together. (Be forewarned, there is no beer!)
Along the way, we also played Cranium and decided to start a petition on change.org to get rid of butter popcorn Jelly Bellies. Someone needs to officially put an end to candy that tastes like a dirty movie theater.
Over the course of the weekend, Romi had been complaining about some ear pain, but luckily Morgan was on hand with all of her new doctor tools, ready to practice physical exams on all her dear loved ones. She's great until she gets to testing reflexes...oy! She reported that his ear drum looked fine and guessed he was bothered by a lot of wax build up. JoJo immediately jumped online to find remedies, which we discussed in earnest until the poor little guy looked at us all and pleaded, "please no do that to me."
At the end of the weekend, we were all so sad it was over. It was the best Thanksgiving in a long time. And it was just as mom would have wanted it. I missed her, but the only time it really got to me was when I couldn't share a moment with her. Morgan was putting her doctor "toys" away and was having trouble with her otoscope. She took it over to Rob, asking'"Uncle, can you fix this?" and I had so many flashbacks to her as a little girl, bringing a toy over for him to repair. A bittersweet moment if there ever was one!
