Raising WEG

Post-Turkey Exhaustion

I meant to post a photo essay on today's feast, but I'm too sleepy.

In honor of the show's fortieth anniversary, and in honor of our trip to the zoo yesterday, here's one of my favorite Sesame Street bits ever:

Late night, early morning

At the last minute, I decided to go along to the zoo today with Calder, the kids, and my in-laws, which meant that the last of the last-minute grocery runs happened at 8:45pm, and that I still have two pies to bake and some stuffing to prepare.  Now that the apples are sliced and the pumpkin filling ingredients are all lined up and the wild rice is boiling, It's not going to take that long (dice onion, dice celery, rinse sliced mushrooms, saute) and I'm glad I went to the zoo and I do love the prep for Thanksgiving, but wow, am I getting too old for late nights.  I am exhausted.

My major goal is to eat dinner at 12:30pm tomorrow, and my micro-goal is to time the mashed potatoes properly for the first time ever.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the States!  Happy Thursday to everyone in other countries!  See you on the other side.

Three Random Thoughts

This is the week when I become convinced that the founders of NaBloPoMo must have strange relationships with Thanksgiving.  Who chooses November to post every day?  This one week alone must take a lot of people in the States right out of the running.

I thrill to the sight of long lines of cars on the freeway.  I know I'm going to some sort of environmentalist hell, but I think it's beautiful.  And at holidays, when I can imagine that everyone is traveling to the beach or the mountains or to the town where their parents still live, I love the sight of a crowded highway even more.  There's such a thrill of common purpose.

It's especially beautiful to see car headlights stretching out for miles, of course, because that means I'm going in the opposite direction.

Damn.  Now I can't remember the third thought.

[This was not the third thought, but: I want to write more about the way that people's standards change when they go from one baby to two, because that was how I read the two posts I linked -- you know, the first baby ate nothing but organic foods according to a book outlining when to introduce them, but the second baby is eating boxed Mac & Cheese before she's six months old -- but my head is mush.  I seem to remember nodding my head at Melissa comparing her willingness to cook with her first-born toddler to her reluctance now that she has six kids, because "helpful" toddlers make so much more work.  I felt a lot of guilt because I turned down my kids' offers of "help" so often.  It was nice to be reminded that most parents of more than one kid find their assistance to be a mixed bag.]