Thanksgiving (rough draft)

Michael Kraig Noel
Courtny Edwards
Eng- 121

There is only one meal that can bring my family together, and that meal is Thanksgiving. Going into this event tends to bring many different emotions, and what tends to be the most predominate is anxiety. My family is strange, filled with many stories, most of which are true, but their extreme nature can trick you. None of them, that is my closer family, like each other. They fight, and do so often. Most of what they go on about is nothing more than, "stop driving so fast!" or "keep you music down!" These topics can devolve into many types of squabble. Regardless of how much one an other don't like each other, they are all still willing to make their way over to my grandma's house and indulge is fantastic food.


The food is really what everyone cares about, and what brings them to be with each other. All of the what is eaten is made, and made the day before and day of Thanksgiving. My aunts and my mom all gather at my grandma's house, and they work and drink wine from morning till night, getting everything ready. The smells of the cooking day are odd and fantastic, nearly everyone that helps out my grandma, smokes, my grandma smokes, so all this means that while you have the waves of broiling meat, gallons of potatoes, and all manner of traditional food wafting their aroma about, there is this almost ominous smell of cigarettes everywhere. Close to half of the food is made at my grandmas, and the rest is made forty feet away at my uncles house. The entire time, everyone over the age of twenty one drinks, mostly beer and wine. By the night, those who had too much to drink, snuggles up in their car, and those who thought they could drive, would make their way home. The next day, there was more cooking and drinking, they say "it's a holiday, so I can drink!" and they do.


Every time that I meet these people, I find that they look like we could have shared grandparents, but when you get down to it the connections between one an other are deep, bizarre and often misleading. We collect at the table once an huge bellowing announcement is made, "The foods ready!" There are more variations to this, but the just is the same. A table that can accommodated ten to fifteen people is constructed out a few smaller tables, where we are to be sitting is lumpy, but authentic. The food is spread about the house, what the manner usually dictates is that you collect your food then sit, once most are sitting someone brings the main course to the table so you can refill you plate. They always worn be before grace, since I step out and an unwilling to partake in talking to myself and looking at the floor, I can always think of something better to talk about than the solar messiah. We sit scattered about, there is no real order to where each person is, kind of a musical chairs ordeal, but without the music and scrambling to a seat. Everyone that comes to this, always talks about the same things, weather it's, "remember that one girl you dated that didn't eat meat!? Geez.. (arbitrary insult to vegans)" Or they simply yammer on about the food. The entire event is to be consitered to start when the food is being eaten, and we eat for a few hours. By the end, the sun is dessending into the horizen, the people with the young kids pack up, finish their drinks and end up leaving, everyone else tends to stay for a few more hours and get really drunk.

All-in-all, those involved with our family thanksgiving can drop thier guards and have a slight bit of cheer and fun.


Notes:
I am afraid that I am doing a thanksgiving paper, and I figure that I wont be the only one. This said, I hope that in turn it's not cleshay that I am throwing my spin in the mix, and yes I realized that every one's family is in fact the craziest and that anyone might have a story that is more... whatever. I know my family is nuts, I have lived through a few close deaths and many court cases that let me never forget the fact that we as a group are terrible people, individually we stand a well mannered and well spoken folk.

I don't know how to end this.
This needs to be read over and checked.