Thanksgiving

We had a fairly mellow Turkey day this year. Patrick's mother came out from Wisconsin; she brought us all kinds of Wisconsin cheese. Our favorite kinds are Brick and cheese curds (because you can't get those in California). Poor Owen was sick as a dog and our little guy was an eating machine. I made green beans and brussell sprouts and everyone refused to eat the sprouts (even though they were delicious). Dad's turkey was tasty, but he tried to sneak dried fruit into the stuffing again and it ended up slimy. Everything else was great. Mom always bakes the best pies! (Mine are never good: hard fruit, bad crust, gooey on the bottom; I don't understand it.)

This was the first year that Mom and I didn't get up at 5:30 to hit the shops. Some were even open at 4am, but the early offers were pitiful. We were very disappointed that no stores had any free stuff or great specials this year. Well, that is not completely true as Mervyns gave a free $10 gift certificate to the first 200 shoppers. However, so many people all slept outside the door that we, mere early risers, didn't have a chance. Even JCPenney did not do the annual, morning, Mickey Mouse snow globe giveaway (this has been around for as long as I can remember.)We all went to the movies instead.