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Hodu [Hashem] ki tov
We went to my parents' house for Thanksgiving as usual. There were seven of us, including my sister and her two kids.
It was weird to have Thor absent. Thor was my parents' golden retriever, who would have been 14 last month but died two months ago. On my mother's birthday, more's the pity. He was a good dog. They were really attached to him and they took it hard, but he had a good life and 14-minus-two-weeks is pretty good for a golden retriever. They haven't said anything yet about getting another dog. (There's almost always been a dog in that house.)
When my parents' basement flooded in September they lost their electric roaster, and I'd been thinking about replacing that for them in December. (I always have trouble identifying suitable gifts for them.) But they decided they wanted it for Thanksgiving, so so much for that idea. The turkey was done in five hours in the roaster; it was probably done sooner, as we measured the temperature at 200, but it was not dry. The skin was very crispy and that kept the insides moist. For those who missed my update to an earlier post, we determined that Butterball turkeys contain no actual butter, so I was able to eat it.
We got there before my sister and my mother mentioned that she would be bringing a mincemeat pie for dessert. This raised the question of just what's in mincemeat anyway; I certainly remember actual meat from my Italian grandmother's pies, but my mother asserted that the filling you buy in a store contains no meat. A little time with Google revealed that the traditional recipe involves beef and pork but that there are non-meat versions, so this remained a mystery. When my sister came we learned that she had bought the pie, not made it; she was pretty sure there was no meat in the filling, but commercial pie crusts contain lard more often than not, so I declined on that basis. (And if it didn't have lard, it probably had butter anyway.) I hope my sister did not feel rejected that I declined all three of the desserts she brought -- the others being cheesecake and fudge containing milk -- but I took some of the latter two home, so that probably helped. And it's not like the meat/dairy thing should come as a surprise by now. Oh well. It's not like I needed the dessert. :-)
There was an odd social dynamic at one point. When my sister and I were growing up, there were strict rules about the TV: it couldn't be on during meals, and if it was on you had to be watching it. No background TV, and arguments about parallel processing didn't wash. (Fine with me; I can't read while a TV is on, or pay attention to craft-work or the like.)
As soon as my sister's family arrived the kids made beelines for the TV (niece) and computer (nephew), and the TV stayed on the entire time until we left. At high volume. My niece, who was nominally watching the TV, was sitting in a chair with a laptop and headphones. After several hints about the volume being an impediment to conversation my sister finally told her to turn it down, but no one told her to turn it off. And, err, my niece is in college; we're not talking about a young kid who hasn't yet acquired clues about interacting with other people. I'm surprised my parents didn't object.
One result, though, was that Dani and I left earlier than we would have otherwise, because competing with the TV was annoying and it was really hard to have a conversation. They don't have separate living room and family room; it's one big room. That and the kitchen are the comfortable gathering places, and my mother wanted to be out of the kitchen.
I wish we'd been able to have more of a conversation with my parents, but I didn't feel I could tell them "you have to turn that off or go to another room" in their own house. I found myself idly wondering if they are beginning to have hearing problems; maybe it didn't seem so loud to them. Hmm.
Other than that, though, it was a nice visit!
Apropos of nothing...
Since getting the broken window replaced in my car,
the horn no longer sounds when I lock or unlock
the car with the remote. It does sound if I push the
button. This is not a complaint. :-)
no subject
"Actually, I'm watching the reflection of the television in your glasses."
"You!" [swat]
Fortunately the step after swatting me was to break down into giggles for the next five to ten minutes over the fact that I'd said something that bratty. (That was a fun relationship.)
no subject
I'd've swatted you, too -- velocity to be determined by how much you smiled while you said it. :-)