GHOSTS OF THANKSGIVINGS PAST
Ni Hao! This year for Thanksgiving I decided to go down to San Antonio to spend the holiday with my long-time friend Laura and her husband Steve. I drove down to see them a few months ago and decided this time to forgo the five hour trip for a comfy seat on a jet plane (that's five hours each way, then tack on any additional holiday travel delays, and you got yourself a long trip!). Two overwhelming reasons why I decided to dish out the extra money: 1) there isn't a pain pill big enough for the headache of fighting all that traffic and 2) the added stress of trying to get back in time for work would probably have pushed me over the edge. That said, I had a very nice Thanksgiving holiday. :)
I flew down to San Antonio Tuesday morning, where Laura picked me up and then took me out to breakfast at MiMi's Cafe. The rest of the day was spent talking and running errands in preparation for our feast. Wednesday we wanted to do something fun and out of the ordinary, so we opted for a day at Sea World. I had never been and was pleasantly surprised with how clean and relaxing the park was. (Especially when comparing it to my most recent trip to Six Flags!) Of course it was in the off season, and so the lines were short and the crowds manageable, allowing us to stroll leisurely down the paths between our various activities. I really enjoyed this theme park because of the variety of entertainment: traditional roller coasters and water rides, aquariums full of exotic fish, and high-quality performances by the local marine life. I also enjoyed the many photo opportunities as I'm continuing to experiment with my new digital SLR camera. Here are some pictures from the 200+ that I took:
Thursday was really laid back. We slept in late, went shopping in the late morning, and didn't get around to actually preparing our dinner until around 1pm. Since it was just the three of us, and our turkey was just a 6 lbs turkey breast, we planned on taking about two hours to prepare our dinner and eat around 3pm. I'm a big fan of Food Network's "Dinner Impossible" and applied what I had seen on the show to organize the many dishes we were planning to make in such a small kitchen.
We had just gotten to work when all the power in the apartment went out. Determined to have a nice meal, Laura faithfully continued to cut vegetables and mix batters. In the meantime, the power company was called and they said they would try to fix it as soon as possible. This didn't give us much confidence or a very clear timetable, and so we began devising "Plan B". I told Laura I wasn't attached to having a traditional meal and it didn't bother me if we had to go out to eat. My family isn't very traditional when it comes to Thanksgiving. As a kid we usually ate homemade pizza, although in more recent years I think my mom has made fried chicken or similar dishes. So as we sat in the cold apartment waiting for the power company to call us back, I was reminded of all the Thanksgiving dinners I've had since moving out of my parents' house.
Thinking back to my last year at BYU, I had made plans to spend the day with my cousin Natalie and her extended family on her mom's side. Much to my dismay, I had to stay home and work the whole weekend on an extra credit paper after I learned I was failing one of my classes. My teacher had pulled me aside the Tuesday prior and made a deal with me to write an extra paper so I could still graduate in December. My mom took pity on me and gave me some money so I could at least order a pizza for my Thanksgiving meal. It was the first time since I moved out that I had an apartment to myself, and I ended up sleeping in the living room the entire weekend.
The next year, my first year of grad school, I spent Thanksgiving day with my ex-boyfriend Dave. Even though we had recently broken up, it ended on good terms and we were still friends, so we decided to stick to our plan of spend the holiday together. It was my first time preparing a turkey and the meal was picture perfect! I was really into baking that year and so I enjoyed the challenge of it all. Dave brought over his GameCube and we spent the day planing video games and then later met up with some friends and went to a movie.
My second year of grad school I was actually on the road Thanksgiving day. My old roommate Debra and her parents were making a trip out to Nauvoo and she had invited me to travel with them. My grandparents were serving a mission there and I thought it would be fun to spend a few days with them. My travel companions and I had turkey sandwiches as we drove and didn't make it into Nauvoo until about 7pm that evening. My grandparents had already had their turkey dinner with the other temple missionaries, but fortunately saved me some leftovers.
My last year of grad school was the most traditional. It was spent with a handful of good friends from my student ward there in Nebraska. We had a nice meal, played Disney SceneIt and watched some clips from Mr. Bean's comedy routines.
Last year was my Taiwanese Thanksgiving. The only Thanksgiving meal I thought I would eat with chopsticks. Well, this year we came pretty close. Our "Plan B" was to go for Chinese food if the power didn't get turned back on.
Well, about an hour and a half after the power went out we decided to go out to dinner. As we began pulling on our coats Steve's cell phone rang. It was the power company. They had figured out the problem and provided Steve with the information he needed to flip the appropriate breaker. (He could have done this earlier, since he is an electrician and all, but he didn't want to go flipping breakers and turn off another apartment's power). Moments later the power was back on and we rushed back into the kitchen to continue our preparations.
We finished the meal around 5pm and enjoyed the fruits of our labors. The rest of the evening was spent playing Dance Dance Revolution and the Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire video game. In the Harry Potter game two players can play simultaneously as a team casting combined spells, and so Steve and I ended up playing late into the night. It is quite an addicting game.
The next morning I packed up my things and Laura, Steve, and their dog Kupa drove me to the airport to catch my flight. My trip home was uneventful as I was blessed to beat the holiday traveler's rush by flying home on Friday morning.
