Thanksgiving 2008
Thanksgiving 2008
This year we spent Thanksgiving with my mother and father in Las Vegas. Once we decided that we were going to travel for the holiday, we had to decide exactly how and when. In the past we’ve either driven our own car the over 300 miles, or rented a car for the long trip. This time, we decided to fly. Out flight was scheduled to leave Orange County at 18:10, but the flight was delayed more than an hour, so we didn’t arrive until 20:30. My father greeted us and we drove to my mother and father’s house where we were able to stay in the guest room for the duration of our stay.
Thursday morning, we woke up fairly early and wandered into the living room. I made scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast while we talked about the logistics of the day. We then got dressed and ready and went to place flowers on my grandmother’s grave.
We walked through the veteran’s cemetery and saw the engraved paving stone that my mother’s family had purchased in memory of my grandmother. We then drove to the nursing home where my grandmother spent her last days and brought them cookies.
At that point, we had to go back to the house to finish up cooking the side dishes for Thanksgiving dinner. My father and I busied ourselves making bruschetta and green bean casserole. This Thanksgiving, we had planned to dine at my sister’s house which is about 15 minutes away. My sister has limited seating and dining space, so we were charges with bringing an extra table and chairs. To accommodate transport of all these items, my parents had arranged the borrowing of a friends truck. My mother and Becky went to go pick it up and my father and I finished the food. When we were ready to pack up and go, we opened the garage door to find it raining, so we has to come up with a quick solution to prevent the wooden table and chairs from being ruined in transport. A tarp.
We arrived at my sister’s house without incident and greeted my sister, her husband, my father’s mother, my father’s sister, my father’s sister’s roommate, and my sister’s three dogs. It had stopped raining by that time, so we were able to get all of our food an equipment in the house without fuss.
My sister had recently acquired a new pug puppy, and while I was carrying the table into the house I nearly stepped on it. I’m not used to dogs that you can step on.
After visiting for a bit, we were all seated and my sister presented the main course: Turducken. We enjoyed the meal and sat down to relax and partake of some of my sister’s Playstation 3. We took turns singin solos and duets in Singstar, and after a while I played the demo of Mirror’s Edge. Eventually, it was time to pack up and go home, so we did. That night, Becky, my father, my mother and I attempted to play a new card game: Golf. We didn’t know all the rules, but we still had fun.
Friday morning, upon awakening, we were greeted by a homemade breakfast skillet made by my father. After our semi-normal morning hygiene ritual, we saddled-up and prepared ourselves to brave the busiest shopping day of the year. Our first stop: the Sportsman’s Warehouse [link]. Surprisingly, we soon found we had no cause for our bravery: the store wasn’t that busy. We browsed among the kayaks, tents, and weaponry, eventually finding my father handling sidearms at the gun counter. My parents have apparently been researching the possibility of exercising their second amendment rights, and this trip furthered their research.
For lunch, we went to a local pub and was again surprised at smelling smoke indoors (California indoor smoking laws have spoiled us!) After lunch, we encountered part two of my parent’s research into gun ownership: a visit to the indoor gun range. We met my parent’s friends at the range, they own a number of guns and they let us shoot them. After our spree, we went home to relax and prepare for dinner. My father prepared homemade baked ziti and meatballs and while it was baking, I instructed him in the finer points of playing World of Warcraft. After dinner we inaugurated in the holiday season by watching Elf. It’s official now. After (for some people, during) the movie we went to sleep.
In the morning, we woke up, showered, dressed and went to the airport. We then boarded an (on-time) flight home. When we were seated, Becky took out her phone to turn it off and noticed a voicemail. She quickly checked it and discovered that her mother, our ride, never received our itinerary and had no idea when we’d be at the airport. Becky stealthy and hastily text messaged the carrier and flight number before the hostess called for the cessation of electronic communication. Once we landed, we hoped she had gotten the message. Out bags took an inordinate amount of time to come out the carousel, but once they did we were able to walk to the curb to our waiting ride!
Overall, it was a success. We did Thanksgiving.
December 13th, 2008 at 22:39
ok, that is sooo random! that you had TURDUKEN for thanksgiving and you didn’t even tell us about it! and another random point…we really enjoy the card game golf.