Over the River and Through the Woods....

...to Jenny's' house we'll go. And we may even have jingle the sleigh bells because it's snowing tonight. Breaking our longstanding tradition of gathering daughters and friends and students (and last year even a grandpa) here in Wooster, we are taking Thanksgiving on the road this year. The last year not in Wooster was ten years ago when we met Chuck's brother and family at their parents' home after his mom's death. We sorted and cleaned (but not cleaned out--the house is still being used with that same furniture ten years later) and raked mountains of leaves, which by ordinance we could burn. (Unlike here where our own newly raked leaves are waiting under their blanket of snow to be sucked up by the city's huge vacuum cleaner.)

We are gathering in PA for a couple of reasons. Primary is that J's dear friend C, who has attended most of the Thanksgivings of the last 13 years, is miserably allergic to our cat. So when we realized we could gather half an hour from C's home in Pittsburgh, minus the cat, it seemed somehow right. Plus it makes it easier for Ellen to meet us and it gives us a chance to show Karen where Jenny lives. She has enough bedding space for us all. We're bringing most of the feast, so when I got home from work a little early this afternoon, I started baking. Made the soup and sweet breads for tomorrow night (also traditional) and some of the fixings for the big meal. Karen doesn't know it but by magic an extra TV will appear in one of J's bedrooms, so that we can have a choice of TV fare. What if someone likes neither footbal nor Nickelodean, you ask? I take the fifth. That TV will then become her Christmas present. How will two sometimes-at-odds roommates manage two TVs in one tiny room, filled to the brim with the "treasures" of two packrats??? The roommate has had one all along that she often doesn't share and often watches scary things that K hates. Finally, we decided to solve the brewing problem by getting a small one for Karen with a set of headphones. How this solution works out remains to be seen, but it is more fair.

Returning to the Thanksgiving theme--what I will miss the most by the change in venue (though I am the one who suggested it) is our international student guests. Maybe Christmas Eve for those who haven't been able to go home.

P.S, Reuben, I made your salad. It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without it.