Thanksgiving

It's been a pretty good Thanksgiving this year... I got to see my folks over the weekend thanks to the Doctor Who anniversary events and Eric's folks came out yesterday to take us to the Red Lion in Richland for Thanksgiving brunch today.

Ever since we decided for sure we were going to go, I've been anticipating the meal. Last year we sort of just drove to Richland with the hopes of finding some place to eat. This year we actually had reservations for the buffet. We got there a little bit before our time and they couldn't find the reservation... that's the problem with a last name like "Gjovaag"... turned out they had put it under my father-in-law's first name!

Mother-in-law and I both accepted that the meal couldn't possibly be as good as we remembered from last year, and we were delighted to be wrong.

It wasn't perfect, but it was certainly a really good meal for Thanksgiving, with all the traditional stuff and other good foods. I, personally, had small servings of a macaroni salad, Waldorf salad, spaghetti squash, mashed potatoes, sage stuffing, yams, ham, poached salmon, turkey, pork, smoked salmon, gravy, chocolate cheesecake, chocolate mousse, plain cheesecake and pumpkin pie. I also was served a cup of hot cocoa with whipped cream, which was nice as it was freezing outside and the view from the dining room was an extremely foggy riverbank and trees draped in ice.

Inkwell is happily confused by the presence of strangers in the house, but seems to be mostly cool with it. He's a relatively cool cat, all things considered. As long as he gets fed on time and doesn't have to have a bath, he's happy.

As for being thankful, well, I'm thankful to have both sets of parents to celebrate with, and happy that we got to see them both in the course of the past week. I'm thankful to have a job, and thankful it's something I enjoy. I'm thankful we are healthy and rich enough to live pleasant lives. I'm thankful for family, friends and neighbors. I'm thankful I'm living in the future, where videophones are real and I can carry a device that acts as a phone, book, to-do list and game center all in one. I'm thankful that the internet allows me to keep in touch with my family and friends and to find new people to share my life with. I'm thankful that the holiday season is finally started, and I think tonight I will put up the Christmas tree.

I hope your Thanksgiving was at least as half as good as mine, because then it would have been spectacular indeed.