Thanksgiving 1998 Hollywood-style

Thanksgiving 1998 - Hollywood-style

I had a really swell Thanksgiving!

Since I was spending it at a friend's with her friends, I had no idea what to wear. Sandra seemed pretty excited about cooking dinner for us, so I figured I better wear nice clothes. But it's THANKSGIVING, which requires lots of relaxing and eating followed by more relaxing, so I really wanted to wear comfy clothes, but I didn't want to get there and see everybody all dressed up like on the TV shows and me look like a slob. So I dressed up, and went ahead and threw the jeans and sneakers in the car just in case.

So I get to Sandra's, and Leland is wearing jeans, Sandra's wearing her pajamas (she claimed they were her pajamas -- they looked more like dressy sweats she might sleep in, or lounge around in) and her friend Lisa is wearing nice casual, so I said that's it, I'm putting on jeans. So I change into the comfy clothes, and we sit around and watch lots of It's A Wonderful Life on their big TV. And after a few hits to the kitchen to check the turkey in the oven and admire the fab desserts (homemade almond apple pie and homemade eclair loaf courtesy of Sandra, and pumpkin pie with praline topping Lisa bought), Leland begins to whine, "I want PIE! Let's eat it NOW!" We laugh, and Leland presses the issue, completely serious. Sandra begins to argue, but we quickly out-vote her. "Why not?" "Hey! There aren't any parents here!" and Leland's winning statement, "We ARE the kids' table!" So we encircle the table and ask which one to start with. I say apple -- it's fruit. Lisa laughs and agrees she could rationalize that better than just eating pie before Thanksgiving dinner. "Ice cream?" Sandra asks. YES! we all cry. Silly question.

Sandra calls her good friend Angel (wacky but incredibly well-connected woman -- formerly assistant to George Clooney and Noah Wylie, now assistant to Eleanor Mondale), who quickly crosses the street and walks in without knocking for pie (wearing semi-layers of sweat clothes). We finish our pieces of incredibly delicious pie (apple pie with cinnamon and oatmeal topping and a bottom layer of almond paste), all commenting on how brilliant this is. This way, we can taste the dessert and fully appreciate it. We can also give full attention to each dessert (the plan to have another dessert before we eat turkey, which Leland claims won't be ready for hours) and Sandra asks who wants eclair. Angel is in, I say it would be rude to leave her as the only one, Leland says count him in. Sandra and Lisa abstain proudly and with a little indignant snif. But it was enough of a snif for Sandra to smell the dessert and finally say, okay, a small piece, and Lisa to say she'll just try a bite of Sandra's, at which point Sandra says, okay, then, well, she'll have to cut a bigger piece since she's sharing...

The final friend arrives (I still can't remember her name) and she accepts a piece of pie with ice cream and no hesitation. Angel has left for the next few hours until the turkey's ready. The rest of us sit around the table eating the crudites (or however you spell the short word for vegetables and crackers and cheese spread) and nibbling on the crumbs of the pie (Leland praising this as the ultimate kids table food). Funny conversation turns to Sandra remarking on Leland's cousin who used to laugh so hard, peas would come out his nose, and it has officially become the kids table in every sense of the word.

Full, we finally pull ourselves away long enough to wait about 10 minutes before going to the kitchen to cook the rest of the dinner. Leland has been working on the mashed potatos, followed by the spinach with bacon and fresh green beans with bacon, while Sandra finally decides the rolls have risen enough (she didn't cover them, so during their 6 hours of rising, they weren't rising much). The turkey is beautiful (with the stuffing stuffed inside, something I've never had -- grew up in a tasty dressing house), the mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, mashed summer squash are all ready.

The big TV in the background is set on the Sci-Fi channel's letter-box presentation of The Empire Strikes Back, and we serve up the plates buffet-style and sit down at the small table. Sandra calls Angel, who arrives quickly. More conversation, Sandra realizes no one has taken a roll from the one bowl on the table and insists we partake of the bread she spent hours coaxing to rise.

We're finally too full to be alive. Angel leaves again, Leland and I flop in front of the TV to watch the commercial-loaded Empire and pet the dogs (Leland's sweet black pit bull Splendid and Sandra's big furry black dog Susan), while Sandra takes her friends shopping through her expensive hand-made jewelry collection left over from the last art show. An hour or so later, the TV flipped to some entertainment news show and us doing the latest insider Hollywood gossip from our industry friends, we pull out the pumpkin with praline pie and another slab of the eclair loaf (with a quick reprise from Angel).

Eventually we disperse, and Sandra sends me home with two loaded plates of leftovers and dessert.

I dare say, it was the best kids' table EVER!

Thanksgiving

The holiday scene

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