Stuffed like a . . . well, you know

I hope everyone had a great past few days, I know I did! My Thanksgiving was very filling, and spent with some good company. But, there were tinges of homesickness, when I was on the phone with everyone at my mom's place (mom, uncle, aunt, grandpa, sister, mom, brother, step-dad, mom - in that order), they had already broken out the wine (it was 1 in the afternoon, what can I say, my family knows how to celebrate!) and I think they were feeling it a little. My mom made me promise that I'd never be away for another holiday, that she had too much food and I needed to eat some of it. Then she made a rule that none of her children could ever move away from her again. I'm not sure if I'm grandfathered in under that one yet, I'm still checking. And a comment was made about me moving closer to home when grandchildren are on the way, so I thought for a minute that she had forgotten that she was talking with me. Any of her grandchildren coming from this Flenker are (hopefully) a ways off. A long ways off. I'm pretty sure you have to have another interested party to do that, so a long, long ways off.

I didn't quite feel like Thanksgiving, though, partially because it's my first away from home, but mainly because I had no mashed potatoes, and no pumpkin pie. I will give my hosts credit, though. They're Italian, so this isn't exactly their gig. And they had other extremely delicious food, and plenty of wine. I felt I needed to do my part for my family, and did some catching up. I'm pretty sure some text messages were sent to H at the height of my celebrating. And for the first time, I had chestnuts that were roasted on an open fire. Since this is the subject of my favorite Christmas song ever, I thought it was a travesty for it to have taken so long for me to experience this tradition. They were excellent. I'm not even joking. Big Texas and I were even sent home with leftovers, which are already gone. It was a nice diversion from beans and rice while it lasted.

Now, of course, I'm in the Christmas mood. I even think I saw a few flurries this morning! So, I'll leave you with Mr. Nat King Cole, and The Christmas Song. (His is the best version of this song, there's no discussion. And, one of the best Christmas songs of all-time. This is something that I will eventually get to.)