November 28, 2005
Do me a favor would you and other thoughts on Thanksgiving
In the last fifteen minutes before serving Thanksgiving dinner which due to my attempt to be mellow this time was actually running much later than I had planned I’m bombarded with running commentary about the type of carving knives I have, whether they are appropriate to the task of carving a twelve pound turkey, that my sharpener is not actually a sharpener but something else which escapes me, demonstrations of the correct way to hold a knife, and repeated oral noises expressing frustration and or exasperation. Which then led to a comment which was, Do me a favor would you, bring your knives to NYC and there’s a guy near Macy’s that sharpens them. Like there is no one here in the city of DC where I can get my knives sharpened. Which led to me to have a few fanatasies of what I would really like to do with some of those knives. However, in the spirit of thanksgiving I tried to be thankful that someone else was wiling to carve the bird. Which has always been this odd thing in my family of being a “male” oriented job, not sure how that happened but that seems to be the way it goes. So as I’m keeping an eye on the gravy (which was a disaster last year), making sure the rice is not burning, reheating side dishes that were prepared earlier, steaming the green beans and trying to find a place for the ice water to blanch them, getting the plates organized, I’m also providing unconditional positive regard to the turkey carver. I had to remind myself that in the short term an outburst on my part would have felt good but ten minutes later I would have regretted it.
The next day while I was whizzing around preparing breakfast I was also interrupted with commentary about how the bird was not totally cooked and some tips about what to do to fix it. On the third day I was told that in consultation it was decided that my stove did not “hold heat’ well. Whatever the hell that means.
However, the whole thing went pretty well so I was glad. I allow one week of downtime and then into the mix of xmas prepartions-cards, cookies, and presents, repeat.
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November 22, 2005
Xifer?
xian got the ball rolling, xourmas found his own voice, and xifer seems to fit the mode.
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Oh there's no place like home for the holidays
Here it is two days before Thanksgiving and already people are complaining about the “holidays.” I suppose they do make a lot of people feel miserable, lots of references to Currier and Ives and the lack thereof in their own family holdiays. Years ago Oprah had an idea where a group of friends would each create their own bingo board with predictable statements that would be made by family members during the holidays. Then whomever reached Bingo first would win dinner from their friends.
It certainly seems like a funny idea and even if one doesn’t make a bingo board one can keep a tally in their mind. Personally I think a little bit of humor about the whole thing makes it much better. Of course, I say this as I am about to entertain family for three days and remembering what a nutcase I was by the end of last year’s visit.
The one thing that does drive me bonkers over the holidays are the jingles that get played on tv and radio. I heard my number one most hated jingle two days ago which is for a not-to-be-named local jewelry store and of course the lyrics escape me but it’s something about how buying that one piece of jewelry is the way to show her how much you love her. How about taking the trash out without being reminded—seems like that’s one way to “show” her how much you love her. I guess though that type of sentiment doesn’t translate well to radio advertising. And why should men be tortured with the idea that if they don’t come up with a shiny fabulous piece then they’ve failed in the show your love category?
All I have to say about the gift exchange for this year folks is that I have reached saturation in the slippers department. All other gifts will be warmly received but any slippers given will be auctioned off on e-bay. But let’s enjoy Thanksgiving first before the getting too focused on the idea that those gifts given with love are destined for e-bay.
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