Thanksgiving in the USA (3)
My base for this trip to the USA is the beautiful home of my American friends Mike & Laura Grace. Mike bought three acres of woodland with tulip poplar trees and had the house built in 1979 and then in 2004 they had the place extended. It now occupies over 4,000 square feet with everything from a fantastic high porch for dinner to a television room with a hugh drop down screen and seven speakers. Once they had three children here, but now it is just them in a place with five bedrooms, three full bathrooms, and a fourth toilet. So I have a suite to myself.
Although Thanksgiving is not until Thursday, the Graces have a tradition of holding an extra and early Thanksgiving dinner the previous Sunday attended by Laura’s sisters. She has four sisters and this year three came along with one husband and one ex husband, so eight of us sat down for dinner. The meal began with each person being asked for what he or she was feeling thankful. The traditional turkey in this case was an exceptionally tasty 21 lb (9.5 kilo) bird. Accompanying the turkey was something called corn pudding plus green beans and mashed potatoes. Dessert was a choice of pumpkin pie, pecan pie and apple pie with vanilla ice cream. For me, it was my first taste of corn pudding and pumpkin pie. By the end of the meal, I was truly stuffed.
After the dinner, the women stayed in the dining room and chatted, while the men retired to the sitting room and screamed at the 60″ television screen. The cause of the shouting was a live broadcast of a football match between the Washington Redskins and the Green Bay Packers. As a young man, Mike won a football scholarship to college and his injuries included a badly broken arm, so he had lots of advice for the players on the screen. I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I don’t even know why it’s called football – the ball is hardly kicked.
Oh, the Redskins won – much to the pleasure of my male companions.