music: "The Remedy," Jason Mraz
Mmm, tofurkey day. I didn't actually have tofurkey, though. I made a tofu loaf, (try saying that three times fast -- tis hard), and it was actually quite excellent. No one else but Grandpa felt brave enough to have a bite, but between the GIANT turkey, the sweet potatoes, real cranberry sauce, broccoli casserole, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, congealed fruit salad (yeah that sounds gross but it's just jello salad, which also happens to be gross), five pies, four cakes and ice cream, I don't really think anyone had room. Two of the pies were vegan, and I was very proud that they actually tasted better than the non-vegan ones.
Our family is such a riot. I haven't been around them as a big group much of my life, so I'm very on the outside of things, but even we as observers (Lizzie, who is Uncle Ben's girlfriend, Marian, Chris's femme, and me) still find ourselves laughing so hard that tears begin to well up in our eyes, and eating is momentarily impossible. Or permanently, depending on how much damage is ultimately done.
I drove up to Ft. Lauderdale with Ben, Liz and Nikki and spent the night in their beachside villa. It was amazing, because right ouside their back door is the dock and boats and the canal leading straight to the ocean. They have a spoiled cat named Catters, and of course the Jack Russell puppy named Cooper who urinates on everyone and everything. We spent almost the entire night on the back deck, where Lizzie drank wine and she, Nikki and I just had "girl talk" for hours.
Today, "Black Friday," we braved the mall. It was insane. INSANE!!! Words cannot express the INSANITY. Really. I was getting claustrophobic. And it was just a weird, weird day. I put enough money for one water bottle in the soda machine and got three. Grandma got in a car accident. (Mild, only a fender bender. In fact, no damage was done.) Nikki ran into an old friend from cheerleading that she hadn't seen in eight years, but for some reason had mentioned just last night. I don't know, just strange.
And so, with that, I go off (yet again) to the hell-hole I call work, to make yet more of the money that I love to spend on other people (I've dropped almost $100 for my brother's gifts thus far, and another $40 for my mom), and look up the word "yet" in the thesaurus so as not to drive everyone crazy.
Or, perhaps, INSANE.