Thanksgiving is the first holiday that Chris and I hosted together. We cooked at his apartment in New Jersey - the first time either of us had roasted a turkey - and his parents drove down from Buffalo with a dining table, saving us from serving on the floor. (Several years later, we enjoyed a holiday dinner on the floor in their new house and determined that you could drink more wine as there was no danger of falling off your chair but, retrospectively, I'm still glad we had a table for our first Thanksgiving. I'm sure Amy Vanderbilt would recommend that falling off chairs drunk in front of your in-laws be saved until you are at least engaged...)
In the years since, we've hosted many more equally memorable Thanksgivings like the year we cooked two turkeys because we reversed the fraction when figuring out how many pounds of turkey you should prepare per person, the stellar-planning year I crossed a state line to shop in an all-night grocery on Wednesday night, and the year we closed on our first house and moved into a new state the day before hosting (with good china!) for eight. Wait - scratch that last one - that was Easter.
Recently, we've been cycling Thanksgiving with Fraukow and Chris' parents so we get to host once every three years. This arrangement has already provided some good memories, like the time Fraukow and I poured hot cranberry sauce from the stove into her beautiful crystal serving bowl, which instantly cracked and soaked her newly renovated green & white kitchen in bright red cranberry (which never stains or anything).
This year was supposed to be our turn to host and the fates aligned - the CO for our new kitchen arrived yesterday! We are, however, not hosting. Nor are we bound for anyone's house - sadly, Fraukow's going to have to bring about the demise of her good dishes and nice decorating without me.
We are headed for a hockey tournament in Hershey, PA, where we will spend three days with about 100 kids from our own hockey club, a thousand or so other hockey players and their associated families. If last year's Rochester Rumble experience is anything to go by, we'll have a lot of fun! There will, however, be quite a bit of between-games time that has to get filled with activities or the kids will take it upon themselves to terrorize the hotel and rinks. I'd thought of a few possibly suitable activities but nothing that seemed cool enough to interest the kids for very long...and then Michelle Mitchell of Scribbit posted the perfect idea:
How to Escape from Duct Tape from Michelle Mitchell at Scribbit on Vimeo.
Did you see how Michelle's kids clamored to try? I'm betting I can get most of the team taped up before they figure out that getting out is not as easy as it looks! Chris thinks the other parents will not be pleased but I think they'll all come around. Drinks, anyone?
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3 comments:
Yes clamoring :) Duct tape is popular as it is without the added benefit of doing some Houdini moves.
I can't believe you didn't post this BEFORE Thanksgiving! We totally could have used this yesterday.
We once hosted Thanksgiving in our NYC apartment, using the bedroom door, removed from its hinges, stacked on several milk crates as the dining room table. It worked well, but watch out for the doorknob hole!
THURSDAY is my day - complain to Lady Epiphany if you wanted this post sooner. Well, and maybe to Scribbit, who might've posted it a few days before. For the record, the other parents at the tournament are VERY grateful.
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