thanksgiving and beyond

'hi penny, great to meet you', said my friend kristin's dad as he stuck out his hand to shake mine.
'hi...i'm penny', was my brilliant reply. awesome.

my friend kristin invited me to come celebrate thanksgiving with her family in beaver dam, a town about an hour north of madison. so this morning, i met up with her, her two sisters and a boyfriend (he only belongs to one of the sisters, they don't share), her mom, and as mentioned above, her dad. the seven of us piled into the minivan and were on the road by 10 am.

we arrived at kristin's aunt's house just before 11 which was good timing, 'cause apparently, there's this game on tv people like to watch and if you don't watch it from the minute you step in the house until the minute your wife drags you away from it to go home, something terrible happens. i'm not sure what it is since, of course, it didn't happen, but that's the conclusion i came to after five hours.

kristin has a lovely family with aunts and uncles and cousins (oh my!). one of the cousins brought his two-year-old son who is adorable. fortunately, he likes trucks and cars (pixar) so i used my experience with blake to talk to the little guy. he was super shy and didn't want to go in the room where everyone was hanging out (watching football, did i mention?), but he was talking up a storm with kristin and me in the front room. he told me all the names of his trucks and i let him pick up my ring with his little bulldozer. i may not be able to talk to adults ('hi...i'm penny') but two-year-olds still learning to pronounce basic sounds, bring it. my favorite moment was when he corrected me and told me mater is a tow truck not a tractor. my bad. ok, i also loved when he said 'ekavator' (excavator) and 'backhoe' (...backhoe).

the afternoon went on, guests left, and soon it was down to a small group of eleven with the men watching football and the women sitting around the kitchen table talking. the ladies were nice and let me share something i thought was funny from my textbook (what, you don't bring textbooks to your thanksgiving dinners?). i had to spend several minutes explaining the context before i read the sentence about how poor survey methodology could be considered a crime, and it may not sound funny now, but believe me, it's funny. survey methodology, conan o'brien, pretty much the same. do i know how to entertain a crowd, or what. (the two-year-old was gone by then, i had to talk to adults and i believe we've already covered my skill set there)

over all, it was a lovely day. i've already planned and strategized my black friday activities. can you guess where i'll be at 3 am when the sales start? that's right, in my bed, asleep, probably snoring. i pick up sam, flav, and the kiddos tomorrow night from the airport and i am so so so excited to see and hug my favorite niece and nephew! i am thankful they are coming back, i am thankful to kristin and her family for letting me be a part of their day, and i am thankful i get to sleep in tomorrow. thank you.