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November 28, 2004
thankful
this year's thanksgiving celebration was significantly less stressful than last year, with my wholly domesticated cousins and their amazing home-cooked pies and stuffing competition. my poor aunt had to cook a third turkey to go with all the leftover stuffing.
my aunt has honed her hostess skills to a science like few have ever seen. if anyone questions where my fussiness and control freaky tendencies come from, look no further than my immediate family, where i am decidedly laid-back, low key and practically slovenly by comparison.
the best moment of the afternoon came as all twenty of us were finishing up our meticulously prepared salads. my cousin jenny prepared to get up to clear the salad plates so we could move to the next course, and abruptly received a refresher course for her mother's "system".
aunt joyce: "sit down, i have this handled."
jenny: "but i was just trying to help clear the salad plates."
aunt joyce: "i have a system. please sit down."
jenny: "i know about the system, aren't i part of the system?"
aunt joyce: "no, you're not part of the system. please sit down."
jenny: "what, do you think i can't handle your system?"
as my cousin andy came up behind me to gather up my salad plate, i held on to it and suspiciously asked, "i don't know andy, are you part of the system?"
i might add that jenny is a mother of five, is the president of her ladies church group, and runs marathons and triathalons...and had, as a matter of fact, participated in the dana point turkey trot just that morning. all this while still managing to prepare homemade stuffing and two amazing pies for dinner.
as a girl that can barely manage to find the time to order take out at the end of an evening after a 14 hour workday, i threw my poor body into shock eating my way through three full days of turkey, stuffing, pies and loooong naps.
Posted by heidijanet at November 28, 2004 05:00 PM
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