"In My Opinion . . ."
November 26, 2000
Thanksgiving came and went: a quiet, restful holiday. Unlike the past 15 years or more, we celebrated without extended family, without exchange students, without guests of any sort. Just us.
I wondered whether we'd find the solitude deafening. Would we be bored without playmates for us all? So many of our Thanksgivings have involved driving for hours to a resort or somewhere for the whole clan to gather, and often we've transported microwaves as well as holiday food, turning our motel rooms into makeshift restaurants. Would our own house seem mundane after such unique destinations?
I think not. The four of us cooked together (well, I cooked the most, but everybody was in the kitchen helping). We had a scrumptious feast, and although I took a few shortcuts (Stovetop instead of homemade dressing; store-bought pumpkin pie), I made the required extra-fancy potatoes, an apple pie, and a much-basted, slow-roasted turkey. We ate leisurely, savoring the flavors and the conversations. No one had other plans for the night, so we watched films together after cleaning up one extremely messy kitchen. We saw "Shanghai Noon" and the Italian film "Dear Diary," a strange but satisfying double-feature. It was a most pleasant Thanksgiving.