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Thanksgiving and all the dressings
Nov. 30th, 2004 03:40 pmWell folks, this was supposed to be the regularly scheduled rant, my son’s recent injury obviously overshadowed anything interesting or amusing I could have written! LOL
To let everyone know, he’s doing fine today.
OK, so let be backtrack a few days. Thanksgiving, that wondrous holiday that celebrates all we should be thankful for in our lives (and our gratuitous overindulgence at the dinner table), actually went pretty well. This year was the first year that I’d actually cooked the entire meal, virtually solo. All the preparations went well. Brenna actually made breakfast for everyone (bacon, eggs, and toast). Afterward, I cleaned, swept, mopped and got the house nicely cleaned up.
The menu: honey baked ham (8 lbs), green beans with bacon and shallots, cranberry sauce, potato buns, and sweet potato/carrot/nut casserole (which was a definite keeper). I was going to make a pumpkin pie, but the condensed milk I had was bad. Instead Amanda, who’d stopped by to join us, went out and picked up a couple of pies and Cool Whip. By 5:30p, everything was done, served and adding inches to our waistline. Ah such is the dangers of being able to cook.
Friday morning I woke up to face two problems. Both Chris and I had developed a mild head cold. It was frustrating, but normal. The other problem was in dealing with the post Thanksgiving buffoonery on the roads and in the shops. I don’t entirely know why, but I had the urge to go out to do some essential shopping and take the kids to supper at Olive Garden instead of subjecting them to more leftovers. Unfortunately this decision meant facing the holiday crowds. I’m very convinced that there is a class of people whose minds are deeply affected by Cranberry Sauce or Turkey Dressing. The chemicals in the Thanksgiving meal triggers a reaction in their brains that turns them into mindless, clueless, insensitive idiots. Yes – these people are the majority of what we encountered on the streets, in the craft store and all around the Olive Garden parking lot (which unfortunately is adjacent to the Antelope Valley Mall).
In one 5 minute stretch, we were cut off, nearly hit and blocked in just one parking lot. While leaving the Olive Garden, I watched four near accidents from people paying absolutely no attention to what they were doing. One group of gentleman were so busy chatting in their car that they drove right through a busy 4 way stop and never noticed the car and pedestrian they barely missed. I watched a female driver, cut across three lanes of traffic without so much as looking in any mirror, all while chattering on her cell phone. The stores were equally bad, filled with rabid shoppers who didn’t care whether or not they ran over others in the quest to spread holiday cheer and find the best bargains.
This is the time of the year that I truly wonder why some people celebrate the season. I mean seriously, the Yule season seems to begin earlier each year and with it the idiots seem to come crawling out of the woodwork. WalMart had Christmas decorations up for sale here in mid-October. Please tell me that someone other than my children and I saw this as being just plain wrong?...
More to follow…
To let everyone know, he’s doing fine today.
OK, so let be backtrack a few days. Thanksgiving, that wondrous holiday that celebrates all we should be thankful for in our lives (and our gratuitous overindulgence at the dinner table), actually went pretty well. This year was the first year that I’d actually cooked the entire meal, virtually solo. All the preparations went well. Brenna actually made breakfast for everyone (bacon, eggs, and toast). Afterward, I cleaned, swept, mopped and got the house nicely cleaned up.
The menu: honey baked ham (8 lbs), green beans with bacon and shallots, cranberry sauce, potato buns, and sweet potato/carrot/nut casserole (which was a definite keeper). I was going to make a pumpkin pie, but the condensed milk I had was bad. Instead Amanda, who’d stopped by to join us, went out and picked up a couple of pies and Cool Whip. By 5:30p, everything was done, served and adding inches to our waistline. Ah such is the dangers of being able to cook.
Friday morning I woke up to face two problems. Both Chris and I had developed a mild head cold. It was frustrating, but normal. The other problem was in dealing with the post Thanksgiving buffoonery on the roads and in the shops. I don’t entirely know why, but I had the urge to go out to do some essential shopping and take the kids to supper at Olive Garden instead of subjecting them to more leftovers. Unfortunately this decision meant facing the holiday crowds. I’m very convinced that there is a class of people whose minds are deeply affected by Cranberry Sauce or Turkey Dressing. The chemicals in the Thanksgiving meal triggers a reaction in their brains that turns them into mindless, clueless, insensitive idiots. Yes – these people are the majority of what we encountered on the streets, in the craft store and all around the Olive Garden parking lot (which unfortunately is adjacent to the Antelope Valley Mall).
In one 5 minute stretch, we were cut off, nearly hit and blocked in just one parking lot. While leaving the Olive Garden, I watched four near accidents from people paying absolutely no attention to what they were doing. One group of gentleman were so busy chatting in their car that they drove right through a busy 4 way stop and never noticed the car and pedestrian they barely missed. I watched a female driver, cut across three lanes of traffic without so much as looking in any mirror, all while chattering on her cell phone. The stores were equally bad, filled with rabid shoppers who didn’t care whether or not they ran over others in the quest to spread holiday cheer and find the best bargains.
This is the time of the year that I truly wonder why some people celebrate the season. I mean seriously, the Yule season seems to begin earlier each year and with it the idiots seem to come crawling out of the woodwork. WalMart had Christmas decorations up for sale here in mid-October. Please tell me that someone other than my children and I saw this as being just plain wrong?...
More to follow…
