Woke up in a strange place. A queen size bed, sure, wife and dog, yes, but it’s the Lamp Liter Inn Visalia, circa 2019. I last stayed here in 1972. So weird. Hotel is now a tired 70’s place, once renovated. It is cheap.
We got ready. I took the dog out to crap. Always fun in a hotel.
We went to Starbucks on the way to Dads. Had to since we received a five drink order from my sis on the way there. That was fun. The Starbucks was actually quite nice and efficient. And all worked out well. Surprises me.
Today is (fake) Thanksgiving. Here at our house we are standing around chatting. Vincent made breakfast, an egg dish of some sort. Some champagne. Nice morning. Then work starts. I had to go to the store for a couple pies since I am only making one, a lemon meringue. It was a real pain. I did not know that pecan pies are impossible to find outside of Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks. So I ran around to several places and finally scored one.
By the time I returned Emily and my sis had gone to the store for other things. That’s how it always seems, you can never have everything you need. I always spend part of today, almost a holiday, and the real day and Christmas running around to some store or other.
We got dinner going by 230 then came the cocktails, beer and wine. Everyone sat around getting a little liquored up. Then the arguments started. It’s 9 pm now and the volume and intensity has increased. My stupid drunk sister is mad at me for not joining in the “discussion”. Her word. And she is drunk.
I made cocktails and pie. That would be old fashion, lemon drop and lemon meringue. It’s all I do but I do it well. My meringue was perfect btw. As were the cocktails. Did I mention my sister is drunk? Worth saying twice. And, after all, what’s a family gathering without someone being over drunk and abusive? It’s so much fun.
As I was saying, we were sitting around eating and drinking all day. We have been joined today by my Dads neighbors Jimmy and Chrissy. They seem to like dad. Questionable. But all of us are having a great time.
We did finally get everything ready. I carved up the turkey which turned out to be kinda underdone in the center of the carcass. So we served the done part. Our meal was a great Thanksgiving meal. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and most of us overate.
The drinkers in the group continued through the dinner, and the post dinner period to consume more wine and beer. Which for those of us not so inclined was very amusing. Unfortunately with my sister, once she gets good and drunk her volume and cursing go up to. My son also got into the melee with his aunt. So, by and large, we had a lot of yelling and drinking though nothing was broken. Maybe some hurt feelings. For a couple hours.
Dessert was next. The only necessary part of the meal if you ask me. I am a big fan. It is traditionally my job to make a pumpkin, pecan, and lemon pie for thanksgiving and Christmas. I don’t break with tradition. Today is fake Thanksgiving so I only made a lemon pie. The others I purchased. So sue me. Michael made a casserole sized pumpkin creme brûlée too. See, he is good for something after all.
Serving the dessert did not slow down the yelling and arguing one bit. They all kept at it till the party broke up. My sister had to be carried to bed. The rest of us went under our own power. Em and I were sober. That’s gonna be even better tomorrow.
We are back at the hotel. Cleaned up and in bed. I’m blogging, obvs, and Em is playing on her phone. Jax is sleeping very soundly. He had a hard night. He went out back to go to the bathroom and fell in the pool. Fine now but it took a lot out of him. All are bed ready.