Happy Thanksgiving!

If you’re in the US, tomorrow is our annual feast day. So to my US readers, happy Thanksgiving!

If you’re not a US reader, then I wish you a happy day of family, food, well-being, and other general feast day goodness.

Jet lag update

I’m adjusted to this time zone, finally. I’m sleeping normal hours and don’t feel like I’m dragging all the time. This alone is reason to celebrate. I feel human again.

Personal notes for a feast day

Current Husband is Puerta Rican. His parents are from NYC and half his siblings were born in New York and half were born in LA. Current Husband is the youngest of 6 kids. All of which (except Current Husband) have children and now many of those children have children of their own. All of them live in the LA area. His mother is a great-grandmother.

I’m 2nd of 4 in my sib group (my father had 8 kids in 3 sib groups but that’s another entire story). Both my parents and one of the brothers are gone. My sister and I have kids. We live all over the country with my son (and his kids) and my sister in Tulsa. We’re dispersed.

Family holidays are often spent with Current Husband’s family. Not all of them go to his mother’s house, just many of them. She lives in a small house but we can squeeze a lot of people in that house. All of them loudly talking over each other while children run about.

Family gatherings

My mother-in-law can cook. I mean really cook. Dinner will include tamales, Puerta Rican rice, turkey and many other wonderful things. We’ll stuff ourselves with food. This is how she shows her family she loves them. And there were some hungry years when the kids were growing up, so this holiday is her way of showing those years are gone.

Then we’ll all go to one of his sister’s houses nearby. She will also have dinner and we’ll sit down and eat another entire meal. Because that sister will feel we like Mom better if we tell her we’re too full to eat another bite. “You don’t think my rice is as good as Mom’s? I spent all day making that turkey. Eat!”

And then we’ll all go to another sister’s house. (You can see where this going, can’t you?) Where we’ll sit down to another meal. And if we don’t eat there because we’re too full, that sister will think we liked her mom’s or sister’s cooking better. “I bet you ate a lot of food at her house. And she doesn’t make rice as good as I do. Eat up!”

Guilty strategies

We’re working out half century old sibling rivalries over stuffing. And they’re not my siblings. I’m just along for the ride.

It would seem the strategy is to eat a bit at each house. It doesn’t work. They monitor how much I’m eating and pile more food on my plate. And comment about how skinny I am and I need to eat more. “Besides, we never see you. Eat!”

Current Husband and I will finally leave about 8pm, so full that we’re unconscious and drive the 60 miles home. We’ll be laden with leftovers from each woman because everyone wants to be the most generous with the leftovers. We’ll have enough food for a week.

The family is a lot of fun and there will be much laughter and maybe some dancing. I could do with a little less forced feeding but it’s all motivated by a genuine love for their brother, my husband.

Heavily seasoned with competition.