My American Thanksgiving.
I had just sat down with my food.
“Tim, you didn’t get any sweet potatos.”
“What, do you think I’m stupid? I saw them, I don’t like…”
My sister cut me off. “Can’t we all just get along for one day?”
That’s my family for you. Wendi always does tend to keep me in check, from shooting my mouth off prematurely.
I was getting some cranberry sauce. My dad came over to hold the bowl for me. I had to stop myself from cursing him out. I think I just told him to go away.
My dad likes putting on the facade of Thanksgiving. Of holidays. It’s not so much that I don’t like eating with my family. I really don’t care. It’s that my dad talks of tradition that isn’t even ours.
That’s right, my dad ordered from Boston Market.
He got two pounds of turkey, which is entirely too much for our family. My mom told him to get a single pound, but he didn’t listen. He never listens. In years past whenever we’ve gotten so little turkey, people have commented to my mom, “How are you going to feed your family?” She’d reply simply, “We’ll have leftovers.” Which is true.
The turkey was on par with my former dining hall. I only had one small piece. Also on par with my former dining hall.
By the way, my sister’s vegetarian. Beats me how three people are supposed to eat two pounds of turkey. No doubt my parents will find creative ways to divide the leftovers.
I’m just not a turkey person. I’ve had better chicken strips, but I suppose that’s just me. I like to fill up on stuffing. Stove Top has never steared me wrong. I remember how Paige’s mom said, “Well, we call it dressing.” Apparently, my mom calls it dressing, too. But um. Whatever, dude. To me, it’s stuffing.
And cranberry sauce. Plenty of years past where I’ll finish off the cranberry sauce by myself.
The mashed potatos tasted weird. It had a very weird flavor that I couldn’t put my finger on. Not necessarily good or bad. Just. Odd. I was surprised that this, too, was from Boston Market. That was utterly sub-par mashed potatos. I swear, my former dining hall has ruined mashed potatos for me. They had the best mashed potatos in the world. THE WORLD.
“Next year, let’s have nachos.”
Mind you, this was my sister talking, not me.
“About time somebody agrees with me.”
My dad said something about “adding it as a course”. I knew he wouldn’t get it
My sister reiterated, “No, I mean, let’s have just nachos.”
My dad wants the turkey. He wants what he thinks we’re “supposed” to have for Thanksgiving. And people wonder why I say he wishes he was white.
I remember years past when we had tacos for thanksgiving. And all-breakfast foods. Those were the best. These turkey meals feel fake. If we could have another Mexican year, I’d be happy. She could do her nachos in the oven, I could do some beef + seasonings, plus some mexican rice. Find some corncake. I’ll probably throw in some cranberry sauce anyway. Because I like cranberry sauce.
Just no turkey. I don’t really like fresh chicken or turkey by itself.
Tradition, my ass. My dad doesn’t even know what tradition is.
My dad’s back on his “Let’s get a digital camera!” kick again. For years, he’s said we should get a package deal, a camera with a printer. ..He is so out of the loop. My camera is a two megapixel. And if anybody starts some advertising campaign about how I need a new camera with MORE MEGAPIXELS, they can cram it up their asses. Nobody needs the kind of quality these new cameras are offering, unless they’re a professional photographer, or like taking nudies. Seriously.
As for printers, I showed him pictures I printed with the printer we already have. He asked me if I’ve ever gotten pictures developed. I swear, I want to smack my forehead so many times with him. I explained to him, calmly, how I keep the majority of my pictures in storage. I dump pictures off my camera onto the computer, when the card gets full. He asked how. I said using the USB cord. I then explained how I sometimes burn them onto CDs, then mentioned how utterly cheap CD-R’s are.
My dad’s wet dream seems to be taking pictures and printing them all. That’s just the feeling I get. His uses are different than mine. I have no use for stacks of pictures to sit in storage. They just sit there. It’s much more useful to have a CD full of thousands of pictures. Besides, if I name the files myself, I can usually remember what I’ve named a specific file. Or, if ordered by date modified, I can also find it that way.
Eh. I’m not even sure what my dad wants, half the time. He gets these crazy ideas and rarely follows up on them. I told him that I refuse to shop on Black Friday. Sales, my ass. Prices of technology are always going down. If you wait a few months, you’ll always get it at a lower price. Moore’s Law, after all. I got my camera for under 200 dollars, and there’s no reason my dad can’t do the same.
I’ll probably end up having another meal later on, anyway. That was breakfast for me.
Addendum:
Taking Mary’s advice, I registered TimmyFromOD@gmail.com. My personal email(s), I will keep to myself.
only 2 lbs of turkey? bah.
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The first conversation in there sounds like the one my family has at the dinner table. Only that conversation would be rather lengthy and result in someones food flying in the air… Anyway. Happy Thanksgiving :-). *random*
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Sadly, my mom’s pretty much the same way your dad seems to be. We don’t live together anymore but meh… We eat around noon, and i honestly can’t remember any old thanksgivings… guess it’s not a huge tradition here…
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I love your diary! Two lbs. of turkey? Geez… you remind me of my best friend, Camron (his diary is Camo) when he talks of his family. Well, happy thanksgiving! ~Whitney!~
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My sister and I had a convo about how we think it’s wierd that some people call it dressing today. It’s stuffing, dammit! lol.. Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving! 🙂
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We had three people today and roasted a 10-pounder. The best part of Thanksgiving is when everyone goes back hoe and you have a week’s worth of excellent leftovers. Mashed potato sandwiches with cranberry can help make life worth living. Peace, TimmyfromOD,
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Turkey’s been a part of my family’s tradition. Very rarely our own though, we’d always mooch at a friend’s house and leave THEM with the leftovers, hehe. I like turkey breast meat, and stuffing (we’re getting stuffed, not dressed). You can have my serving of cranberry stuff. 🙂
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Yeah, our dinner wasn’t so…traditional? Sweet potatoes, rice and beans, turkey, spinach. That’s what we had. I’ve already decided that my Thanksgivings are going to be a smorgasboard–everyone in the house’s favorite foods all spread out. Why give thanks for food that someone else likes when you’d mean it more giving thanks for food that YOU like? Exactly. I’m posting that.
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P.S. It’s stuffing. Wtf, I’ve never heard of dressing.
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Happy Thanksgiving and to clarify *L* Dressing is a southern thing….usually made with a base of cornbread crumbs rather than packaged umm STUFF like you use for stuffing *giglz* Stuffing typically goes IN the bird and dressing is baked in a pan and can be cut rather than served with a spoon like stuffing…if that makes sense
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RYN: Yeahhh, the holes freaked me out at first. I was all WHOAAAAA. But then the holes just…I don’t know. Their passion reawakens something in me and I don’t see anything else. I’m such a sissy girl, I know.
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I was thinking about this tonight — we eat the things we think we’re supposed to instead of what’s right for our families. My family seems to be more aligned with prime rib, and we did that for a few years, but now we’re back to turkey. Weird
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RYN: I’m unfamiliar with memento, dying to see Eternal Sunshine, and I agree with the forced love plot. Even now when I watch the original Matrix, I just can’t buy it when she’s whispering her love decree to an under the Matrixed Neo. It isn’t possible to throw in her loving him when we saw absolutely nothing supporting a valid romance or even a mutual attraction, in the very least.
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Gah. We always have so many leftovers. This year we had sushi and turkey. Cause we’re California-weird like that. 🙂
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I call it stuffing, too. My mom gave me this little trivia fact the other day… It is now called dressing because decades (maybe even centuries) ago, people thought that the word “stuffing” sounded vulgar. Neat, huh? *shrug*
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Thank god I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving – I hate turkey! Just got a funny taste to it and it’s too dry! I rather munch on some yummy seafood or a slab of beef! Christmas in England should be fun – my poor children will be the only ones never to have Turkey on Christmas day! LOL
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i dig the nacho idea.i actually like turkey, but only get in pot pie form during the year.if i could get thanksgiving foods more often than once a year,i would be fine with eating whatever on thanksgiving.yup. that is all.
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*Potatoes Sorry, that’s all I even remember from the entry. Spelling is important, you know.
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ha, sometimes i DO give good advice!! i had boston market once in my life. i think i had the potatoes, realized they tasted like crap, and swore never to go back there. i’ve kept my word. 😉 as always my gramma made turkey dinner. hoo boy that was a yummy and filling dinner, i tell you what… *giggles*
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re: email vs. IM – I still don’t think you can beat a decent email. It’s like a phonecall vs. a letter – they’re both nice, certainly, but there’s just something about getting a letter. I, personally, am getting a camera with four megapixels. BECAUSE I LIKE TAKING NUDIES. Also, I am one of those awful techno-snobs. Like ‘I have more megapixels than you, ner ner.’
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What IS sweet potato? Because it sounds kind of wrong. Like cranberry sauce. No merit to either. Or much to turkey either really. Turkey is our traditional Christmas dinner, I dunno if it’s everyone’s, I think it changes/changed depending on what was most expensive if you were rich and what was a cut above dung if you were poor. Either way, I’d prefer dung to Christmas cake/pudding I think.
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I think most English-speaking holidaymakers have much the same attitude as the colonists you describe.
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I bet you’d like the traditional meal a lot better if it was home-cooked instead of that take-out crap. We always get a massive bird, the kind that makes people think we’re feeding an army. This year, we got a 25-pounder for three people. What can I say, we REALLY like leftovers. But if you don’t like turkey, you shouldn’t be forced to have it. I’d go ahead and make nachos next year.
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Ahhhhhh Timmy, the name changes….the horror.
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No one in my family likes turkey except me… So we have lots and lots of italian food. Lasagna. Stuffed shells. Pasketti and meatballs.Come to thing of it, I’m the only person in my house who likes pumpkin pie, too….My house has never been normal or traditional anyway, so screw it…..Sams
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*think
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my mom likes to experiment with thanksgiving dinner. i don’t remember the last time she made a turkey. your visionary thanksgiving with mexican food sounds so nice, with everyone helping and contributing. aww. out of curiosity, what ethnicity is your father?
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We have a 14 pound turkey for four people. I am not obese.
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so…your dad’s……….not white?
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God, I’ve already been here! shit. that’s a terrible habit I have. I really need to learn to bookmark.
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