Friday, November 18, 2011

A Non-traditional Thanksgiving

Next week is Thanksgiving. However, in my house, gluttony will reign supreme tomorrow. My mother is going to Kentucky to spend Thanksgiving with my brother, and my sister has to work on Thanksgiving Day. So we decided to forgo the usual Thursday festivities and have our annual Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. I have already baked my world-famous (well, famous in MY house) walnut streusel apple pie. I will be waking up early tomorrow morning to put the turkey in, praying to God above that it has thawed enough during its week in my fridge to get the neck and back of giblets out of its chest cavity. (The last two years, I removed the neck, but ended up baking the bag of giblets in the turkey. Ew.) I will also be mashing potatoes and putting together Paula Dean’s crockpot macaroni and cheese (a new recipe this year). My mom and sister will be supplying the rest of our traditional meal. My tomorrow night, I should be in a tryptophan-induced coma. And I plan on loving every minute of it.

I admit that it will be a bit strange having Thanksgiving dinner on a Saturday. However, I am kind of excited about our plans for next Thursday. With my mom and my sister Amy out of the picture, that leaves my little family and my sister Jennifer to spend Thanksgiving Day together. We have concocted a tremendous plan for the day. My nephew, Jonah, received the entire Star Wars saga for his birthday last week. All six movies. Wednesday night, before everything closes for Thanksgiving, I am going to stop at Papa Murphy’s and get a few take-and-bake pizzas. Thursday, sometime mid-morning, my sister and nephew will arrive at my house all decked out in their pajamas. All seven of us plan on being in our pajamas all day. We are going to spread blankets and pillows on my living room floor and have an all-day Star Wars marathon and pizza party. Yes, we are geeks. And yes, I am super excited. My nephew and my son, Lucas, are big Star Wars fans. But I have to admit, their Star Wars knowledge pales in comparison to my own. I could practically recite the movies for you…the old-school ones, at least. Ruanita likes Star Wars, though she is not as fanatical as I am. The twins will probably be completely unimpressed, but they will enjoy lounging around on blankets and eating pizza, I am sure. My sister Jennifer, a 34 1/2 year old woman—a woman born in 1977 for God’s sake, the year that Star Wars was born!—has never seen a single Star Wars movie. Her son is fanatical about Star Wars, but she has never even bothered to watch the movies. She has no concept of the sheer coolness of Darth Vader. She has never seen Princess Leia half-naked with a chain around her neck. She has never seen Han Solo flash that mischievous grin. She has never possessed the ability to compare herself to Jabba the Hut when feeling bloated and generally unattractive. She has never cheered when the Death Star was destroyed. She has never oohed and aahed over the cutesiness of the Ewoks. She has never wondered aloud if carbonite is real. She has never made light saber noises in inappropriate places. She has never roared a Chewbacca roar just for the sheer hell of it.

In other words, she has no idea what she has been missing! And I have every intention of introducing her to the awesomeness that is the Star Wars saga.

So there you have it. My non-traditional Thanksgiving plans.

Eat your heart out, Jessica Bylund!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds good to me. I have seen exactly no Star Wars either. My grandson loves it and has tried to introduce me but I just am not into it and now his interest is waning so I am off the hook. I can just picture your weekend and Thursday. Jammies are always great anytime.

Jessica said...

Thanks for the shout out. ;) I was honestly cracking up. The real question is what order will you watch the movies? I would go traditional with IV, V, VI and then move on to the less impressive newer movies. Plus III might be a tad intense for small children. But most importantly you'll see all the best first--just in case folks can't handle six movies in one day. That's pretty hard core. Can't wait to read how you non-traditional Thanksgiving goes. Although it sound AWESOME! :)

Shannon Ralph said...

Jessica-OF COURSE we are going to watch IV, V, and VI first! They are by far the best and I think three movies may be all we can get through with our 5-9 year olds. If even that! I've not let Lucas watch III yet. It was a bit intense for me. And he is easily creeped out, so we may put that one off a bit.

Post a Comment