Annual Mass Gluttony Holiday Now Officially Over!

I hope all the Americans out there had a great Thanksgiving holiday, now that it's all over except the leftovers. To our Canadian readers, I hope you had a lovely day, and didn't get too bored, hearing all of us prate on endlessly about food.

My mother hosted this year's Thanksgiving festivities, as she does most years. 85% of my family live in CityOfMyBirth, such as my father, my paternal grandmother, my paternal uncle, and all but one of my mother's four siblings, and most of their assorted families. So, usually, Thanksgiving is done here in HumidityLikeABrickWall, at my mother's house. There are assorted people who put in a cameo appearance occasionally, like friends of the family, or family who no longer live close, but are in town for whatever reason.

This year, the crowd consisted of JF, Offspring, myself, my mother and stepfather, my brother and his girlfriend, my stepfather's niece and her husband, and two lovely visitors from the U.K. The U.K. visitors were most welcome, and I hope enjoyed themselves. They were a lot of fun to talk to, and as they're both employed in the forensic field, a source of endless fascinating stories.

My brother brought his two golden retrievers, and with my mother's Westie, there was a lot of doggie drama over who actually was the alpha dog, and who'd get the lion's share of attention and "accidentally" dropped tidbits. Now, the Westie is the size of a toaster oven, compared to the goldens' size of small boats, so it was an interesting spectacle to watch. My brother, the total sap, made each of his boys their very own Thanksgiving plate, complete with mac and cheese, turkey, and mashed potatoes. The dogs yummed it up so fast that I was worried they were going to lick holes into the Tupperware. I doubt my brother will be so happy with them later when they get gassy tummies from all the table food.

It was good to see my brother, whom I don't see nearly often enough. His girlfriend is a really nice person -- very smart, and it's clear that she really cares about my brother. What's not to like about that? Offspring likes her because she's nice and doesn't talk down to her -- Girlfriend has a way of talking to you as if she's interested in nothing more that what you have to say, and Offspring doesn't have enough of that from some of the adults in her life.

The visitors from the U.K. are helping my mother trace our family lineage, and brought my mother a rather thick folder with genealogical information on my mother's antecedents. We talked a bit about forensics, including things like the Madeline McCann case, and the Natalee Holloway case. They were amazed at the food my mother laid out -- if there's one thing we do real well, it's eat.

The good news is that things went very well, and there were no personal fireworks. There was no arguing -- most people seemed really happy to be where they were, and with the people gathered there. The food was cooked with lots of help, and the cleanup was spearheaded by my brother, which was a rare, and very special, treat. (I'm usually the one who gets stuck with KP duty, since people usually pass out directly after dinner.)

It was a good meal, with good friends, both old and new. That's what Thanksgiving is all about.