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22946. Ms. No - 11/20/2007 5:58:19 PM I'm off to the Bay Area --- we're all meeting at Cory's sister's house in Danville. My brother and his family are coming up from LA, Cory's folks are coming over from Concord and I'm picking up my folks from the Oakland airport tomorrow evening. I don't know if Cory's brother and his partner are coming in from DC or not or whether my cousin is coming in from Oakland. It would be good if they all were since we won't be together for Christmas this year.
I'm looking forward to a houseful of kids and family and I'm really glad to be seeing my brother. 22947. Ms. No - 11/20/2007 5:59:07 PM Guilt is a useless emotion. Take yourself off to a movie or something after your appointment. Since you've got the day anyway....;-> 22948. arkymalarky - 11/20/2007 6:03:05 PM Mose asked what I was doing afterward and I said I'd probably eat a nice meal out and show a little, to which she--in her endearing daughterly fashion--replied, "You suck!"
They get out at two today, though.
I love family Thanksgivings.
When I don't hate them.
This year's going to be very nice and low-key on my family's end, and kind of hectic because we're going to Little Rock for Bob's family. Mose and her beau are staying Wednesday night with us--and we're not the popular parents, so I'm honored!! ;-)
We had a blast with them last weekend, though, playing Guitar Hero and karaoke at her house after eating out in Hot Springs. 22949. arkymalarky - 11/20/2007 6:03:43 PM ...shop a little. Must've been a Freudian slip. 22950. arkymalarky - 11/20/2007 6:04:31 PM Dr's appts on workdays are great until it's time to go to them. See y'all! 22951. Magoseph - 11/20/2007 7:03:49 PM I bought two huge sweet potatoes and that will be our Thanksgiving dinner along with artichoke salad and Grand Marnier for dessert. 22952. alistairconnor - 11/20/2007 7:13:04 PM Sounds cool, Mago!
My girlfriend and I are trending back towards eating less meat... I have been committing excesses in these last few years of non-practising vegetarianism. My blood pressure was shockingly high when they took it the other day in the gym.
When we were in Catalonia a couple of weeks ago, my girlfriend talked about buying a whole Spanish ham to have for Christmas dinner... I reminded her who we were expecting for Christmas : her (Jewish) sister and (Moslem) brother in law...
22953. arkymalarky - 11/20/2007 10:30:39 PM Well, he recommended an angiogram and I balked at that and I'm getting a CTA--some kind of CT scan--in a couple of weeks. 22954. arkymalarky - 11/20/2007 10:35:16 PM I'm doing better wrt red meat and food in general. I've lost 17 lbs since school started. But I've been so bad for the last few years. My cholesterol and bp are okay, so it goes to show you that you can't just judge by that whether you're doing damage to yourself.
I doubt I'll eat much for Thanksgiving for the simple selfish reason that I don't want to undo my gains (losses) by gorging myself. I like that we do our stuff all in one day, as well, and we never take home leftovers any more. I don't cook for them any more, either. If I bring something it's bought or non-food. 22955. wonkers2 - 11/20/2007 10:58:13 PM The Spanish jamon serrano is my all-time favorit ham--dry and salty. 22956. wonkers2 - 11/21/2007 1:13:22 PM Have a great Thanksgiving, everybody. I'm headed to Washington to straighten out things in our nation's capitol. 22957. David Ehrenstein - 11/22/2007 3:17:35 AM I'm BACK!
22958. arkymalarky - 11/22/2007 4:32:22 AM And looking as fantastic as ever! Great picture. 22959. David Ehrenstein - 11/22/2007 6:15:58 AM Merci!
Here's a better one.
22960. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/22/2007 7:03:22 AM How nice--a real Thanksgiving, David. Welcome back and grab a drumstick! 22961. alistairconnor - 11/22/2007 2:06:24 PM Woo! Prodigal son returns...
Today is the day when the people of the Rest-of-the-world give thanks that they are not american...
(rim shot) 22962. wabbit - 11/22/2007 5:52:38 PM 
Happy Thanksgiving all!
22963. David Ehrenstein - 11/22/2007 9:30:01 PM Here are some lovely Thanksgiving Day thoughts from Everyone's Favorite Historian, Ward Churchill:
"Thanksgiving is the day the United States celebrates the fact that the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony successfully avoided starvation during the winter of 1620-21. But from an American Indian perspective, what is it we're supposed to be so thankful for? Does anyone really expect us to give thanks for the
fact that soon after the Pilgrim Fathers regained their strength, they set out to dispossess and exterminate the very Indians who had fed them that
first winter? Are we to express our gratitude for the colonists' 1637 massacre of the Pequots at Mystic, Conn., or their rhetoric justifying the butchery by comparing Indians to "rats and mice and swarms of lice"?
Or should we be joyous about the endless series of similar slaughters that followed: at St. Francis
(1759), Horseshoe Bend (1814), Bad Axe (1833), Blue Water (1854), Sand Creek (1864), Marias River (1870),
Camp Robinson (1878) and Wounded Knee (1890), to name only the worst? Should we be thankful for the scalp bounties paid by every English Colony -- as well as every U.S. state
and territory in the lower 48 – for proof of the deaths of individual Indians, including women and children?
How might we best show our appreciation of the order issued by Lord Jeffrey Amherst in 1763, requiring smallpox-infested items be given as gifts to the Ottawas so that "we might extirpate this execrable race"? Is it reasonable to assume that we might be jubilant
that our overall population, numbering perhaps 15 million at the outset of the European invasion, was
reduced to less than a quarter-million by 1890? Maybe we should be glad the "peaceful settlers" didn't
kill the rest of us outright. But they didn't really need to, did they? By 1900, they already had 98
percent of our land. The remaining Indians were simply dumped in the mostly arid and unwanted locales, where it was confidently predicted that we'd shortly die off altogether, out of sight and mind of the settler
society. We haven't died off yet, but we comprise far and away the most impoverished, malnourished and disease-ridden population on the continent today. Life expectancy on
many reservations is about 50 years; that of Euroamericans more than 75.
We've also endured a pattern of cultural genocide during the 20th century. Our children were processed
for generations through government boarding schools designed to "kill the Indian" in every child's
consciousness and to replace Native traditions with a "more enlightened" Euroamerican set of values and
understandings. Should we feel grateful for the disastrous
self-concept thereby fostered within our kids? Are we to be thankful that their self-esteem is still degraded every day on cable television by a constant bombardment of recycled Hollywood Westerns and television segments presenting Indians as absurd and utterly dehumanized caricatures?
Should we tell our children to find pride in the sorts of insults to which we are subjected to as a matter of course: Tumbleweeds cartoons, for instance, or the presence of Chief Wahoo and the Redskins in Professional sports? Does anybody really believe we should feel honored by such things, or by place names like Squaw Valley and Squaw Peak? "Squaw," after all, is the Onondaga word for female genitalia. The derogatory effect on Native women should be quite clear. About three-quarters of all adult Indians suffer alcoholism and/or other forms of substance abuse. This is not a "genetic condition." It is a desperate, collective attempt to escape our horrible reality ince "America's Triumph."
It's no mystery why Indians don't observe Thanksgiving. The real question is why do you feast rather than fast on what should be a national day of mourning and atonement. Before digging into your turkey and dressing on Nov.23, you might wish to glance in a mirror and see if you can come up with an answer." 22964. judithathome - 11/23/2007 2:23:52 AM Keoni made us the THE best Thanksgiving dinner EVER...cornish game hens stuffed with cranberry/walnut dressing, sweet potatos, baby peas, and I made a green bean casserole (I know, I know...how tacky! but it was really good!). He also made creme brulee and we have one piece of apple pie to split (and put Hagen Das vanilla ice cream over) that was left over from his office party...he makes the best pies, too. ;-)
He was disappointed because he wanted to make tiramisu but trust me, I wasn't disappointed AT ALL!
22965. judithathome - 11/23/2007 2:24:18 AM Hey, David....welcome back....lookin' good!
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