Turkey, smurkey....

Just whose idea was it anyway to have turkey as the star of the show on Thanksgiving?  Given a choice, I would have chosen lobster. Or my grandmother's lasagna. However, the Powers That Be have chosen turkey, but at least I don't have to cook it this year. Friends up the road who will be here on Thanksgiving Day have offered to cook the turkey in their Texas-style smoker. Fine with me... all I have to do is defrost that bird and drive it up the hill. There is a turkey-god after all.

Last week was the Book Fair at the elementary school, so we had to cancel our meeting of The Magic Wand Book Club. I made that announcement to the students the week before, and was met with moans and groans and offers to have the Book Club meet in their backyards last Thursday. I thanked those students for the suggestion, but told them it would  not be possible even if they saved me the best seat on their swing set. When I told them I would miss them last week but would return this week, two of the 'disruptive' boys said "Are you sure you're coming back?"  Indeed. I am sure.  And I will see them this Thursday afternoon.  Maybe those boys who-shall-not-be-named will truly have missed the Book Club and will see to it that their behavior is less disruptive this week. One can hope.

For the past two weeks, I have been gathering up caps and capes... Reading Caps for the boys and Reading Capes for the girls.  Just a few more capes (wraps, shawls, poncho-type capes) and I will have enough for all the girls (28).  I already have enough caps for the boys (17), which were easy to find.  My idea is to give out the Reading Caps and Reading Capes to all the book club students, with the intention of making their reading time more special. "Put on your Reading Cap/Cape, find yourself a quiet corner in your home, and escape to another world between the covers of the book you are reading."  The students who already love books and reading don't really need another incentive for getting lost in the stories, so the caps and capes will just be a reward for them. The few students who haven't yet grasped the importance and significance of reading will possibly 'get it' if given half a chance.

Invitations for our Christmas party have gone out, with a note saying "No sit-down dinner!" written on the cards. Our Halloween party last month, with a smaller group than usual, turned into a church-supper, with friends/neighbors finding seats at the dining room table and not moving out of them until they decided it was time to go home.  Enough is enough. This is not a church community center. I didn't spend two weeks decorating and two days cooking for fourteen people to sit around my dining room table for two hours.  How is it that our Heatherdale parties lasted till midnight?!

From now on, I will arrange our parties here exactly like our parties back on Heatherdale.... no chairs around the dining room table, which will be covered with food and desserts, plates and forks... not place-settings. I should have stuck to my original arrangements when we started having parties in this house. Who goes to a party and sits down in one chair and doesn't move for the entire night? People can sit at their own tables in their own homes... the idea of these parties is to mingle and nibble, talk to everyone and catch up with friends and neighbors, not just the people to the right and left of you.

I think our Halloween parties may be history. Maybe this country life is just not a good match-up for costumes and silly clothes. However, that certainly doesn't apply to our Minion-esque friend who would have given the 'real' Minions a run for their money (or whatever currency those yellow-and-blue-suited Minions use).

For the last two years, Crazy Christmas Sweaters have been the theme for our Christmas party. This year, one of our friends suggested Crazy Christmas Socks... so that's what we're all doing.  I had to get creative on this one because I don't wear socks.  I looked on-line for Christmas stockings and tights... and found a good selection of colorful possibilities. I just have to find something to go with my red high heels. Ho! Ho! Ho!