2025: November 29: Still on the Thanksgiving theme

It's been a nice week. 

First, Michael's birthday. We got take-out and Michael unwrapped his present from his mother - his childhood train set - which sent him down a nostalgia tunnel. Sarah (his mother) is engaging in a gradual process of "Swedish death cleaning," in which you sort out all your things before you die so no-one has to do it after. We (ok Michael, but what is his is mine, etc.,) have been the recipients of a number of lovely things - last year she sent him a beautiful print, for example. 

When Ella arrived, she spent quite some time inspecting the set to determine how it was made and out of what. "This is unusual plywood." ... "They had their blade set a tiny bit too high." and taking photos of the undersides of things to send to her classmates' group chat. 

Then, Thanksgiving. We bought a turkey from a local organic farm, made a few classic side dishes, and enjoyed a 3.30 pm feast. Why one eats holiday meals at times one never usually eats, I do not know. At one stage during the preparation, Ella asked me about the John Prine lyric  from the song "Grandpa was a Carpenter: he "voted for Eisenhower because Lincoln won the war," which is a question I spent years training to answer, then Michael started playing a John Prine album and Ella and I sang along tunelessly while we cooked (actually, I think Ella has a better voice than me. I'm the tuneless one). 

I was not up for a selfie, so here are Michael and Ella toasting to family togetherness. My mother made the gravy jug in a ceramics class sometime in the 1960s and this is pretty much the only time I ever use it. 

After we'd recovered from all that food, we played the New York Times Crossword Puzzle game from 1978 that Ella had found at a flea market and bought for Michael's birthday. Michael won, shocking no-one, and I got slightly grumpy at one stage when I remembered that I don't like losing or looking ignorant in public. Then I got over it and we enjoyed ourselves. We're not traditionally a game-playing family, but that may have just changed. 

Michael listening while Ella explains the instructions.  

Then Ella took off back for New Haven yesterday because she has lots of school things to do and I have spent the last two days filling the freezer with turkey soup, which we will eat through the long dark winter that's about to descend.