well, it's not the serious woods, it's just the kinda woods....

as some of you might have suspected, it was KINNON'S FIRST THANKSGIVING!

here you see kinnon in the company of grandpa and grandma perry! now, i know i'm totally prejudiced, but i'm telling you cutest.kid.ever. i would have to say that the super-soft brown corduroy pants, and turkey topper, did not hurt the cute factor any.....man! babies are so super snuggable!!!! it's got to be some kind of olfactory response.....it's just too extreme to be anything else!
suzanne made a most lovely meal, including way too many scrumptous appetizers indulged in far too greedily. i had no idea that i was going to be served up such a loverly piece of salmon (at other thanksgivings, i usually do the "side dishes", when doing the traditional meal, which usually do more than satisfy!)!!! it was more than obvious that a lot of time, passion, and talent was put into the whole affair. SUZANNE, COULD YOU PLEASE TAKE YOUR RIGHTFUL BOW?!?!?!?

in addition to tully, sue, kinnon, chuck,sherry, brian (i think he spells it with an "i"), sporty and me, JAY CZELUSNIAK was in the house. (*total aside here; somehow i think jay should have his own television show....like the reality version of 6 feet under. even the last name screams for it as the title of the show; CZELUSNIAK pronounce selloozkneeack...)

this was my first time celebrating thanksgiving with tully and his family, but i've heard jay is a regular. i'll report that many, many, MANY laughs were had, which is, of course, exactly as it should be. chuck carved that bird up like the pro's i've been watching on television all week.

even though i haven't eaten any beef, pork or poultry in about 20 years, i've recently developed an appreciation for butchery...in it's most honest sense. i've been re-reading my old betty crocker cookbook and actually parusing the meat sections (for meals for sporty). people used to buy much bigger sections of meat, and make the different cuts out of them....well, i'm sure it wasn't like everyone doing it, but it was available to cut down on price. anyway, it requires knowledge of animal physiology to cut down a leg of lamb, or a hind quarter of beef, which in a twisted way i can appreciate. i especially appreciate there's no denial or detachment of what you're eating, since it's very obviously a piece of an animal you're cutting down into different cuts of meat... i don't think the stop&shop offers the option of buying a big chunk of animal...you'd prolly have to go to arnold's meats in springfield, since there's no real meat market left in northampton.... but, i digress, most especially since i'm still not eating any beef, pork or poultry... we all did our duty by the meal, but it seemed like we barely put a dent into it...meaning; LEFTOVERS FOR ALL!!!
while i was sitting there, feeling like i could absolutely bust my gut, the dessert spread was layed out...

obviously i threw my busted gut out a window and had at that sugary goodness before i even thought to take a picture. at sherry's suggestion, i went with the raspberry trifle....dude, the berries were somehow fresher than i've tasted in quite some many moons. i made a vanilla cherry walnut crumble to contribute, that was horrid. well, i mean, it tasted fine, but it certainly was no crumble..it was beyond watery.....it went from crumble to ice cream topping in about 20 minutes flat....learn from me people, THAW YOUR FROZEN FRUIT BEFORE YOU COOK WITH IT!!!
***although tessy could not be there, bernice (who has the most spindley legs EVER)

and henry

were. they're wonderful dog's, despite henry's pee-thing....like maggie (the finn's old lab mix), and brandy (ted's old cocker spaniel), and i'm sure like TONS of other dogs out there with this problem; henry pee's when he gets excited, and especially when you're excited to see him, which i usually am... he IS getting much better with age, but when i bestow the love i feel for him, there's peeing....even if it's 2 hours into the visit and i haven't said hardly a word to him that whole time...but then i couldn't take it any more, and i just hadta partake in some bestowing, you know?
the other thing that had to be done, was for the table to tease tully about his xtreme hat head.

now, having lived in san francisco for almost 9 years, i know that there are people out there who will pay good money to get their hair styled in a similar fashion. no one would believe me when i tried to bring this up....*sigh* i find myself missing san francisco at the oddest times....
BUT WHO'D WANNA MISS OUT ON THIS CUTIE PATOOTIE?!?!?!?

man, i gotta get me some pj's like those!!!
i hope everyone had a day they were thankful for, maybe even in the way i was greatful for this day!