Thanksgiving!!!

so, thanksgiving ... 2011 ... what's there to give thanks for? .. a whole lot! .. but that isn't what this post is about .. my thanksgiving experience is unique. why? many reasons. ..

so i wake up on thursday in the afternoon, very hungover. My mom and her sister have been up and at 'em in the kitchen since probably 9am. We host thanksgiving every year, and my aunt, her husband, my 2 cousins, my brother, and a cousin's boyfriend all move into the house for the long weekend. My mom and aunt are in charge of everything. They lay out all the serving dishes on the table, and label each one with a ripped piece of paper so they don't forget what and where they are serving. My aunt also prepares a spreadsheet consisting of what will be cooked at what time, for how long, with what ingredients, and in what size pan. They've gotten it down to a science, somewhat, except for this year, about an hour or so behind schedule.

Despite my tired and hungover-ness, I had to get out of the house - - I know to stay out of their way and out of the kitchen ... I do not want to be called on for help, because no matter what i do, it's wrong, or i become in the way, and then it causes my mom to yell -- no thank u! so i eat a quick breakfast, and go for a jog around the neighborhood -- which, unfortunately did not last long at all, due to it being soo cold out -- i couldnt handle it. so back to the house i went, but avoided the kitchen at all costs.

Finally, the other company arrives for dinner. They are our neighbors, a couple with 2 girls, 8th and 9th grade. Great, fun-loving family, but very a.d.d. stricken -- or maybe it's because they're house is so close that they come and go throughout the night just because they can.

Meanwhile, Mason, the boyfriend, had been working on the special dish for several hours now - - deep frying the turkey!! My cousin had wanted to do this last year, but got shut down. For some reason, we gave in this year, and i'm glad we did. Deep frying food is very dangerous, especially a huge turkey. You gotta control the temperature, and the exact timing, otherwise you're up in flames. Luckily Mason knew the science to this, and produced a perfectly golden-brown, deep fried turkey. THE BEST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO ME OVER THANKSGIVING! .. no joke, deep fried turkey is the only way to go. It's crunchy on the outside, and juicy meat on the inside-  perfect combo.

Fast forward to the dinner table -- my mom is drunk off of one martini, and keeps insisting she do her Leslie Mann impression in between her praising the creamed spinach, which no one else liked. (i tried to upload the video of it, but it took too long, so check it out on my facebook page)

At the end of what seemed to be our quickest dinner yet, my aunt starts passing around pens and scraps of paper. What are we gonna do, write down what we're thankful for and share to the group? ughh .. nope, even better -- we are gonna rate the dishes - from best to worst, to decide what to keep and what to nix for next year. She tried coming up with a number/letter system that would coordinate to each dish - sounds simple, yet somehow she made it quite complicated. On mine, i just wrote "keep the deep fried turkey" due to me tuning out the rest of her proper instructions. (i tried to upload the video of it, but it took too long, so check it out on my facebook page)
 My aunt's always coming up with these kinds of things to do. 2 years ago she decided we should all write our names down, put them in a bowl, and pick one out. Once you got a name, you had to say something nice about that person, or how you were grateful for them in your life. Sounds cheesy, but kind of nice if you're solely around your family, where everyone knows one another. That year we had another family over, and their daughter scored my aunt's husband (2nd marriage, so not my uncle). AWKWARD!!!  what was this 23 yr old gonna say about a 60-something year old guy she just met??? cue the nervous laughter. oye.
so dinner wrapped up and it was someone's idea to play catch phrase after dessert. I am the best at this game, and rarely lose. My mom, however, not so great - especially when she's not sober. On our last round she kept pushing the "start/stop" button instead of the "next" button, which in turn forfeited our time on the clock. In turn, she cost us the game by ONE POINT!! ... next year, she will not be on my team.
Despite the craziness, i truly love thanksgiving at our house. Family comes together, and we spend the day just having fun and a good time. What's your best thanksgiving memory/story?? ... cant wait till next year!