Nation...I never discussed the visit to the family compound for Thanksgiving, but first I need to tell you about something closer to home.
While driving home from work on Friday (5th), I was listening to holiday music and really feeling the loss of Christopher. We have again decided this year to forego a decorated inside tree, and concentrate on smaller decorations (part from loss of spirit, but more for ease of cleanup.) Coming down my street, my cd player had already started playing a 1950's version of Frank Sinatra singing "Let It Snow!" It's very big bandish and great. It was about 4:30 and most of my neighbors' lights had already timed on, but then I saw lights all over my own little house! The front of the house and gargage was lit, my 7 little christmas trees lined and lit my curving front walk, and my 2 little penguins were lit and tipping their hats on the front lawn. Strung around the front door and draping over my new front railings was my special-order garland of "frozen ice" lights. In the center of it all was my beloved and long-suffering husband, Willie, tangled in about 1000' of extension cords and animated-ly waving like a slow-operating plug-in figure. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and quite unexpected! I immediately felt my heart swell and started crying! I'm crying now as I remember the scene. Willie and I have stupid problems between us, like why we can't hear each other from room to room, or misunderstanding statements each other make. He is the most supportive man (when he allows himself to be) I have ever known, and I am so thoroughly grateful that we have each other.
I'll be brief on Thanksgiving because my elbow is screaming today (probably due in part to the decorating I did alone yesterday at my job. Drag the tree from storage in the building, set it up, strung the lights, ornaments, garland...then there were the animated reindeers. I'll publish photos this week)
Thanksgiving Day drive to the compound was quick and uneventful (I drove with Willie; my daughter and her boyfriend in her car separately) We drove straight to my middle niece's house as she was hosting with her husband and the precious new baby. My SIL and nephew's mom, Elaine, were cooking in the kitchen. It was iconic: in the kitchen of a 100-year-old Victorian on Thanksgiving Day! What else do you need for a Norman Rockwell painting? "Where's the antagonist; where's the drama?" as Martin Scorsese says on the American Express commercial. Well, the antagonist arrived: Propagrampa. Unfortunately, Elaine (who in her late 60's probably, is vocal, extremely well-read, and liberal) made the mistake of innocently asking Propa-G "so what did you think of the election?" From the kitchen, I heard Propa-G launch full-volume into a tirade previously unheard in the little hamlet. The SIL and I were yelling from the kitchen to stop, but it was like we weren't even there. My niece stepped in after Propa-G's comment of "Obama is no better than Adolph Hitler." All through his speech, the FIL kept his legs crossed as well as his arms across his chest, absolutely closed to any opinion or words except his own. After that exchange, it got alot better and dinner was out of this world. We could have eaten fast food, and I still would have enjoyed the company just as much. My SIL and I ventured out at around 11AM on "Black Friday" and found the local malls extremely easy to navigate. On Saturday, we (me, Willie, the SIL, her husband, the niece and her husband) all drove to the coast and had a fantastic lunch at a local brewery. I had my first taste of mulled cider (yum-o), and then we all had Starbucks and shopped in an extremely quaint and wonderful Main Street of town, complete with gaslights and brick sidewalks. Very New England. My heart breaks when I have to leave.
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