bird

I think the day before holidays are my favorite days. The anticipation and possibility of holidays always make more excited than the actual day. I've always preferred Fridays over Saturdays, too. The POSSIBILITY of an amazing weekend always jazzed me more than most Saturday or Sunday nights. Potential is never disappointing.

That said, it's the day before the holiday, and I'm still at work (don't worry, it's dead here). Last night Seth and I did a pre-holiday Safeway run to prepare for an all-day cooking/eating fest tomorrow. I swear I wasn't trying to over-do it, but it just doesnt seem right unless there's a big protein (turducken!) and at least 3 side dishes. My parents never made elaborate meals, but we always had a ton of side dishes. My parents are both really great cooks, and they each have these signature dishes (dad - cornbread dressing, real mashed potatoes, and sweet tea. mom - bread dip, sweet potatoes, and a bowl of black olives). Seth and I are going it alone this year, and we're doing a 15 lb turducken (shipped up from south louisiana), garlic mashed potatoes (never made these before), sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce (NOT the can, thanks), rolls, and pie. Totally standard, and hopefully, easy enough to pull off without us burning anything down.

Thanksgiving doesn't usually take a lot of my time and attention...it's more like a blip on the radar between Halloween and Christmas for me. But for some reason this year I'm determined to make it SOMETHING. Maybe because I get days off work, or maybe because I haven't been home in almost a year and what I miss most is the food and my parents, and Thanksgiving is the only real holiday we really got in to (because we love food). The cold weather makes me sentimental and homesick, too. Something about spending t-giving and christmas with my friends ever since freshman year, I guess.

I miss the hell out of my friends lately. I think having a "real" job makes me feel settled, and not like I'm up here on an extended vacation, and I thought when I was more settled, my friends would be a bigger part of my world again (instead of all that freaking homework). I love love love when people visit, but I feel like it's asking a lot for people to come all this way (although it's worth it, I promise!). And knowing that we just can't come down south right now really kills me. Because we really want to, but just...can't. I know we'll get there, it's just tough around holidays.

Anyway, I need to stop worrying about making everything great for this week, because we're going to have a great time no matter what. There's no way in hell we're going to be able to eat all this meat. And two PAID days off work is nothing to sniff at.

Oh, and the sun is even out today. Late November in Seattle and sunny is kind of miraculous-looking. You can see all the mountains today.