That’s
an expression I shared with my son, when he was a young lad, each night as he went
to bed. We said it with a fist bump. We’d gotten it from the Jim Carrey movie,
Mask. I said it a couple of times early on Thanksgiving in his honor even
though he was miles away. That was due to the early wakeup I provided to the
entire neighborhood. As usual, I prepared the turkey the night before so all I
had to do in the morning was put it in the oven. I got up just before six AM to
do just that. I sleepily stuck it in and retreated back to the warmth of the
marital bed. I had just fallen asleep when every smoke alarm in the house went
off. I charged out of bed and when I opened the bedroom door was greeted by a
wall of thick smoke. This was only fifteen minutes after I had put the turkey
in. I ran downstairs through the fog and reached the oven expecting a flaming
morass. While smoke was billowing, there were no flames.
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| Smoke Free Thanksgiving Dinner |
I
rescued the turkey, turned the oven off, and noted what looked like a pool of fat
that was obviously the source of all the smoke. Since the turkey was not
leaking I figured it was something I failed to notice before putting the turkey
in (C’mon it was 6am!). My daughter had made a cheese cake the night before and
apparently a large amount of butter snuck out and pooled in the bottom of the
oven. Back to Thanksgiving morning, needless to say, everybody in the house was
now wide awake and the neighbors were about to join them. I sent the very
anxious FBR down to the Man Cave with her mom while Wingman and I opened every
door and window in the house to clear the smoke while the alarms continued to
peal. I was at the front door trying to fan the smoke out when I realized I was
still in my sleeping attire, my underwear. I figured at this point the neighbors
were entertained enough and snuck upstairs for more appropriate clothing. After
twenty of the longest minutes of my life the very thick smoke dissipated to enough
that the smoke alarms finally stopped. It only took an hour to get the house cleared
of the smoke. Smokin, indeed.
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| Daughter Arrives! |
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| FBR Greeted with Abuela Hugs |
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| FBR Christmas Crafting with Abuela |
The
holiday weekend started a lot less noisily with the Wednesday arrival of my
daughter, Wingman, and the FBR. They made good time though the traffic swamps of
Connecticut and it finally felt like a holiday around the house. While my
daughter worked on her predestined cheese cake, the FBR joined her abuela
working on Christmas crafts and her annual gingerbread house. I was drafted into
the house construction where the FBR accepted about 15% of my suggestions.
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| Lending my Expertise |
As
chronicled above, our Thanksgiving got off to an early start. Our usual plans
fell through this year and it was kind of nice to remain at home, not having
travel, and enjoying the company. The turkey, despite its smoky baptism, turned
out remarkably well and we arranged ourselves around the newly acquired round
table for a great Thanksgiving dinner. The tryptophan kicked in, combined with
the early morning shenanigans led to some late afternoon drooping eyelids but the
FBR would not tolerate grandfather napping. I remained awake to insure safety
of my nether regions from one of her patented pell-mell charges and leaps into
my unsuspecting lap.
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| Squirrel Into the Pumpkin |
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| All Three Granddaughters in Residence! |
Friday
dawned less eventfully although the FBR provided her usual 7am wakeup leap onto
her semi-conscious grandfather. After breakfast we set up for the BRS/BR3
watch. To her credit, the FBR only asked every twenty minutes when her cousins
would arrive. In the meantime, we watched the very fat back yard squirrel (veteran
of many bird feeder incidents) feasting on our front step pumpkins. He had chewed
a hole in the side to get at the interior and at times all that was visible was
his tail as he burrowed into the pumpkin. I found the pumpkin in the middle of the
yard earlier as he had apparently got his head stuck in the pumpkin before he
enlarged the access hole. All this nature watching was interrupted to the very excited
arrival of the cousins.
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| BR3, Renowned Bacon Forager |
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| Son and I in Great Aunt's Kitchen |
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| Abuela Entertaining FBR and BRS |
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| Meeting Namesake Nephew's Family |
The
big event of the day was the annual day after Thanksgiving gathering at Great
Aunt’s house. When our mother was still alive, we scheduled this dinner to
include her since I usually spent actual Turkey Day with my father’s family’s
dinner. We’ve always had so much fun that we continued the tradition after my
mom passed. Last year was a little scary for Great Aunt since it was the first
one without Soxfather. When that was an unbridled success, Great Aunt actually
looked forward to it this year. The granddaughters were assigned to the grandparent
car while their parents traveled to Great Aunt’s house in a separate car. Their
logic was quickly evident as BR3 got car sick before we were out of Worcester.
As usual, my Favorite Panamanian was a true hero in the situation. After we
pulled over, she produced a remarkable amount of cleaning supplies and BR3 was sanitized
and ready to go in short order.
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| Remy and FBR |
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| Cousins!! |
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| BRS with New Family Acquisition |
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| BR3 in Rare Quiet Moment |
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| FBR in Remy's Cage |
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| BRS Follows Suit |
Great
Aunt has figured out getting the Thanksgiving dinner prepped. She even remembered
to remove the giblets from the turkey before cooking it (nope, she’s never
going to live doing that (twice) down). I was quickly assigned the task of
carving the turkey while the completely recovered BR3 stole bacon from the
turkey. The two older cousins were in hot pursuit of Great Aunt’s pet menagerie.
Remy was not safe from their attention even when he retreated into his cage. We
met my Namesake Nephew’s new family for the first time and they fit in with our
crazy family with minimal effort, very nice people. The dinner is always
followed by the best part of the day, the evening gathering with Soxfather’s family
around the table. Soxfather’s sister made her usual calumnious remarks about my
photographic abilities which meant I had to make the usual surreptitious photos
happen. As usual, one of the nights I look forward to all year long lived up to
my lofty expectations, completely due to Soxfather’s and Namesake Nephew’s
families.
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| Great Aunt Dinner |
Saturday
morning meant a three-granddaughter wakeup call for the grandparents and the
usual chants of “We want hojaldras!” aimed at their abuela. We followed this up
with what has become a recent Thanksgiving weekend tradition, a granddaughter trip
to the cinema. We saw Wish, the origin story for the famous fairy godmother, so
that deep seated mystery has finally been explained. The movie was a lot of fun
and it marked the first time ever in a movie theater for BR3. Her five-minute
attention span had always kept her parents from including her. At the end of
the movie, waking up for her climatic nap in my son’s lap, she proudly
proclaimed, “I did it! I can go to the movies now!!”
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| Post Dinner Fun at Great Aunt's |
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| Soxfather Sister Photo Series |
After
the movie was a lot of fun utilizing the escalator to move up a level for lunch
at the nearby Red Robin. The granddaughters are so much fun together as they
are old enough for a little leeway as we move around. Their two mothers had
been shopping while we were at the movies and joined us at the restaurant which
wasn’t the best of news for the ABFA, as it meant serial trips to the rest room
with each daughter. Wingman wasn’t with us as he had journeyed down to Connecticut
to link up with some long lost friends for the day. As soon as we returned home
from lunch, all three granddaughters launched on gingerbread house
construction. I spent most of the time chasing down the little round candies
that were generously distributed onto the floor during the construction frenzy.
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| FBR Savoring Sweets |
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| Hojaldra Breakfast!! |
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| Movie Time! |
My
son and the ABFA also had some friend reunion requirements up in New Hampshire which
precipitated their Saturday departure. The house was a lot quieter as now only
one granddaughter was raiding their abuela’s burgeoning shoe supply and stomping
around the house in high heels. My daughter and I settled into the Man Cave,
after the exhausted FBR retired for the night, to watch some cinema. My daughter
and Keene Friend are the only ones brave enough to try and buy me movies due to
my overstocked library. They both scored with birthday presents which we watched
together Saturday night in the Man Cave. They are listed below in the A-Z watch.
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| Escalator Adventures |
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| Exploring |
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| Red Robin Lunch |
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| FBR and BR3 at Red Robin |
Sunday
saw the inevitable departures which were as depressing as imagined as this also
marks the end of my second favorite time of year which includes, in short
order, FBR Birthday, my birthday, Great Aunt/Tia Loca birthday, pub crawl (!),
and Thanksgiving. I can state, without risk of error, that this year was truly memorable
for each of these events. It’s hard to be depressed though as I get to lounge
with the memories generated this past couple weeks and get ready for my absolute
favorite time of year – Christmas!!!
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| Saturday Gingerbread Frenzy |
Three
movies fell in my A-Z watch, all keepers, new additions to the library and classics:
Stagecoach, the movie that made John Wayne a star; Night of the Hunter, Mitchum
is so scary as the murderous preacher; and Red River, the Duke playing against type
as a villain and Clift just oozes charisma.
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RECURRING CHARACTERS:
ABFA – Amazing Best Family
Athlete - my daughter
in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter
#3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel -
second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue
about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut
Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor
of the big river; Curbside Girls – close
friends of my daughter acquired during him her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which
grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of
course); FBR - First Blog Reader -
first granddaughter; First Friday –
celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene
Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene,
NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend
since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife –
her US sisters, my wife is the 3rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew –
son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia
member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends
of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin
Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we
have lived & their spouses; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate– high
school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the
Grandpuppy, son's dog; Soxfather -
my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course
