Thanksgiving - South Carolina

Thanksgiving morning was beautiful. The sun appeared, something we hadn't seen in days, and while it was chilly that didn't stop the guests from hitting the links. One of the tees was out my back door and we got to watch all sorts of "golfers" come through while we played various games of cards. There were the groups who played golf each weekend and then there were the southern idiots that played golf as an excuse to drink. Unfortunately, some of the behavior on the tee was not something one wanted the children to see and it certainly was not something I expected at a classy resort....uh huh, Wyndham, I rest my case.

Jay was up bright and early getting the turkeys, that's two, prepped and in the ovens. Madison, who turned 18 on this holiday, snuggled in her blow up mattress across from the kitchen and offered up helpful turkey cooking advice I'm sure as she had to let him into the unit while the rest of us slept. Those who wanted to make dishes for the big meal convened in Maya's unit and those who wanted to avoid cooking convened in my unit for cards and games. Tom, James, Jason Those who wanted no part of any of that disappeared. It was a system that worked.

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Everyone was there for the big day. Mandy and family had arrived the day before and Jason and family on Thanksgiving. We had a total of twenty people for Thanksgiving. We combined all of the dishes from the two units and ate in the cooking unit.

It was a success. The food was delicious. The unit worked well. Everyone was stuffed full of turkey and trimmings and liquor. At some point in the evening I tiptoed out and arranged a birthday party in my unit. While some of the cleaning was happening at the other unit, I was working to making another mess in the other unit. 

We had a birthday celebration for Madison. All of the kids had made homemade cards and each one wanted her to read his first. She had a lot of help opening her gifts and blowing out her candles. Some of us had cake. Some of us had thanksgiving desserts. Some of us had both. Joyce had made Aunt Helen's famous Indiana persimmon pudding with persimmons given to her by friends in Indiana. It made me weepy to eat it thinking of Helen and my mom, but it was the perfect ending to a perfect day with family.