Love Thanksgiving

I think Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Thanksgiving I spend with all my siblings and Christmas with Husband's family. Chinese New Year is nice too because that's when my parents visit. But with Sister in DC, Brother Two in NYC and Brother One here with me in Atlanta, it's not too often that all of us are together.

So Thanksgiving is it. Wednesday we went to Maggiano's for dinner and ate much too much. Sister wore the cardigan I made her. Clearly she likes it very much. Here she's holding the hat I made her boyfriend. Both items made from Manos del Uruguay in Eclipse (sweater) and Adobe (hat) on size 10 US needles.

Thursday we ate much too much as well (ham from Honey-Baked Ham, grilled chicken breast, grilled Italian sausage, mashed potatoes, wild rice and white rice, asparagus, and green beans).

Friday morning Sister and her boyfriend got up early and by 6am were at Home Depot. Sister's Boyfriend had his eye on some items and when they went on sale, he was there to snap them up. Then they went to Kohl's where Sister picked up cashmere sweaters, originally $90 for less than $40. By the time the rest of us got up, they were back, and back in bed. But there were up in time for us to go to the Atlanta Zoo.

I had never been there and it was sunny (see: historic drought) and cold. Sister's Boyfriend wore his new hat, I wore a hand knit beret and wore my yellow Argosy scarf in Malabrigo. Mmmmmm, Malabrigo.....

We saw the pandas, which Husband thought were the most overrated animal and Brother One or Two thought was just alright. Here's a picture:

My favorite part was the owl, leashed by the leg. We happened upon a zoo keeper giving a talk about owls. The owl must have been happy to be out of the cage but it also tried flying away once or twice, and would sit there making soft squawking noises.

Then here's a picture of the same kind of owls in their cages:

This bird, a cassowary or something, was kind of freaky. It's at least 4 feet tall if not taller and look at that beak. Good thing there's a fence between me and it.

Sister wanted a hat like her boyfriend's (Ela's Favorite Hat, from One Skein Wonders, the original, not the designer edition). So using some of the leftover yarn from her sweater, I cast on another hat before leaving for the zoo at about noon. Her boyfriend drove, while I knitted. I knitted at the zoo, even in the cold. I took a break for dinner, then knit while playing Scrabble and mah-jong, and at about 1:30am, finished. Brother One was amazed. Here it is in the florescent lighting of our den on the couch.

Here's a picture of Sister and her Boyfriend Saturday morning in their matching hats, wearing sweatshirts they borrowed from me. Why yes, I did go to the University of Wisconsin.

I'm loving the yarn and pattern so much I'm making one for me. But slower.

All six of us then signed a birthday card for Ba, our father. Sister's Boyfriend didn't think he should sign it, but why not? It'll make Ba happy to know that Sister's still got a boyfriend. Ba's really concerned that she's "on the wrong side of 35" and not married. It's kind of a sore point with Sister.

Ba's a huge Gone with the Wind fan, like many Taiwanese of his generation. A few weeks ago, Rhett Butler's People was published and Brother One went to a book signing and the author, Donald McCaig, personalized for Ba. So cool.

Another reason I love Thanksgiving with my family, is that's the only time I get to play mah-jong. We did a lot of that on Thursday and Friday, and even squeezed in three games Saturday morning before we had to leave to take Sister and her boyfriend to the airport. And I won all three of those games. Ha ha!

Husband and Sister's Boyfriend don't know how to play mah-jong, plus it's a four person game, so it was me, Sister, and Brothers One and Two. Just like when we were growing up.

There was also much Scrabble playing. Brother Two is a member of Mensa, so he made sure to come up with the best words. Like armoire. At one point I'm staring at my tiles trying to figure out what word I could make. Brother Two shifted them around and revealed select. I was impressed. It turns out that neither Husband or Sister's Boyfriend knew how to play Scrabble. I find that rather surprising. Fortunately it's an easy game to learn and they're pretty smart people.

Saturday night, when it was me, Husband, and Brothers One and Two, it was euchre and Jameson whiskey time! Euchre is a 4 person game that's essentially a shortened form of bridge. Ba taught Brothers One and Two how to play bridge and Brother One suggested that we learn. But why when euchre's fun and fast? It does involve trump cards and I always have to write down which suite is trump. Other wise I have to keep asking and people tend to get annoyed.

Today it's Sunday and silent. Growing up in a family of six, it was normal to have people around all the time. But we haven't lived together in a long, long time. Now that they're all gone and Husband's at the office, I'm in the house by myself and things are back to normal. And our eating and drinking will have to go back to normal too.