Thanksgiving: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

At the risk of offending anyone who reads this and is related to me, here's the lowdown on the Top 10 terrific events of the 2007 Wellons-Davis-Baker-Woodley-Waters-Dufty Thanksgiving.

10. I made chili, lots of people ate it and no one died. Amazing. Also, I hosted a casual dinner in my new den and no one spilled on the new chair. Again, amazing.

9. Someone found the Thanksgiving Blessing that my grandfather read the year I was born. At the end: "Thank you, dear Lord, for the newest member of our family, little Elizabeth."

8. The subfloors were down in the farmhouse, the appliances were in and most of us were able to sit in the same room to eat. It was glorious to see Dad and Drew toasted for their work. They were proud boys on Thursday, as well they should be.

7. My mother-in-law asked my cousin out on a date. The date never materialized, but still. Enough said.

6. In the middle of the Friday night oyster roast, my parents' next door neighbor found our cat, George, collapsed at the end of their driveway. We put him down Saturday morning and we all cried buckets. The vet gave us a cement impression of his right front paw...incidentally, the one we think he used to slap a deer. Rest in peace with Casey, Sylvester and Pepper, George. You were a great, fierce cat and you will be missed.

5. I think my brother and his girlfriend are getting serious. I think I really like her, and I'm pretty sure my parents are starting to: she cleaned oysters with my dad. Good girl.

4. I snapped at both of my aunts this weekend. It's high time they figured out that while I do respect my elders, I do not answer to them and I am not one of their children. So there. And anyway, I don't know how they confuse me with my cousins. Someone (whose initials are WV and who should know better), told Caroline that it's a good thing someone in the family ended up looking like a model. It's true. Check out the picture below. She's 5'9, 12 lbs., and her legs are longer than my entire body. Yes, we are related, though I understand how that's hard to believe.

3. Shucking oysters is fun. I am good at it, I enjoy it and I'm only sorry that I wasn't the one who found the black pearl in a leftover shell. That was Lindsey, Drew's girlfriend. I suppose it's her prize for putting up with our entire family for 8 hours.

2. Finally, Drew made his world-famous bleu cheese burgers. They are as good as they sound, and they are the perfect for when you've eaten too much turkey, too many pieces of pie and have had so many glasses of wine you've lost count of your family members and you think that Ron White really is funny.

1. For the first time since we've been married, there wasn't a fight over who spent more or less time with whom. We spent equal amounts of time with each family and we managed to get along with everyone. It's a holiday miracle! If only this will last through Christmas...

The picture below is of Bennett, me, Mom and Caroline - after a long, long Thanksgiving Day and entirely too much wine.