My in-laws took us to “Eat Like a Pilgrim” at Thanksgiving Point this year. It’s supposed to be an “authentic” Pilgrim-y experience, and I think the emphasis is on the quotation marks. Want to party like it’s 1699 at home? Then do the following:
- Put no forks on the table
- Provide napkins the size of Rhode Island (men wear ’em on their right shoulders for easier hand-wiping)
- Put a baby goat in a nearby pen, thereby ensuring that no children stay seated for longer than 2 minutes
- All women wearing jeans will be put in the stocks
- Halfway through, a thoroughly oily-chested Squanto should come in and macho-goad everyone into a tug-of-war contest
- Serve a berry pudding with a lot of refined sugar. Trust me, the 10-month-olds in your party will LOVE this. In fact, mine screamed, banged her hand on the table, and occasionally grabbed my arm while screaming and banging if I didn’t stuff berries in her mouth every 15 seconds.
Unless you are suffering from a sinus-pressure headache (which I was) the evening can be rounded out with stately Pilgrim dancing. Jeff’s History Face was on full throttle. To tell the truth, I was rather impressed by the setup. They even had a calligrapher on hand — a CALLIGRAPHER! — to write out whatever you wanted on little slips of paper. In retrospect, I regret not taking the chance to get something like “PWNED” written in swirly whirly script.
But, anyway. Real Thanksgiving was just as much fun. It was at my parents’ house this year. We ate this many pies (I made a chocolate chess pie, a mango pie [not pictured] and a pear-frangipane tart):
. . . which was pretty much the only photo I took of the entire holiday. Oh, except baby Emmy! She’s my little niece and apparently the only other thing I found as beautiful as pie:
Meanwhile, we gave Katie her own little bowl of whipped cream for dessert. I love this picture; it’s the epitome of post-Thanksgiving stupor:
Annnd . . . that’s it. No pictures of turkey, no happy people seated around a table, nuttin’. I snapped this photo when I got home so I wouldn’t feel so bad. It’s a display of Thanksgiving crafts and whatnot that I put on our mantel:
Eleanor made this little ceramic dish at school, of which she is rightfully proud:
In other news, during Thanksgiving weekend, the kids were taken to three movies in three days. All Hail the Muppets. For them, I am truly thankful.
Casa Camisas 