thanksgiving, foster style

traditionally, thanksgiving has been hailed as a time of thankful reflection, a moment to count one's blessings, sip some boiled custard, and share a norman rockwell inspired meal with rosy-cheeked relatives. the time of year to dig that snowflake pattern sweater out of the closet and resurrect those seasonal corduroy britches.

we foster children, however, do not exactly follow traditional inclinations... oh yes, there was food. lots of food; but let's talk volleyball. and i don't mean some mamsi pansy, polite patty cake game either. i'm talking ruthless, fingernail breaking, grandma spiking, game-on volleyball. yes, grandma reminded us that age is not a relevant factor and at any moment she can, and will, step up and re-establish the family pecking order. card games, you ask? oh yeah. but not bridge while nibbling triskits. that's not our style. it was a free-for-all, punch and gouge your way to the middle of the table game of Spoons. in the end, jodi owned the table with her calculated, two-handed dealing strategy, while aunt niki simply manhandled us guys into submission. not even isaac's kung fu reflexes could stand up to her lightning fast spoon grab. at one point, i remember a disheveled jodi, standing on the table, shaking a spoon at us, taunting, "who's your daddy now!?" all we could do was cower in the corner, and listen to our male egos deflate.

doubles ping pong was a hoot while shae and i doled out a couple smack downs to isaac and 'secret weapon' bill; but quickly became unpleasant when adam joined the fray with his funky top spin serve and answered with a definitive 2-0 victory over us.

by saturday night, i was aching like an old man (actually, the old men weren't complaining) and had chewed my way to the bottom of a new bottle of ibuprofen. but man did we have a lot of fun.

so, keep your egg nog induced holiday songs around the baby grand, and don't bother dragging the special silverware and china out. just give me some sweaty volleyball, an obnoxiously loud game of cards with family, and aunt carol's pumpkin pie with a plastic fork.. that's what i'm thankful for..

happy holidays everybody

jedi turns 8- brings balance to force

when george lucas gave us star wars in the summer of 1977, i doubt he envisioned the barrage of space themed birthday parties that would follow. i nostalgically recall my first galactic b'day cake at age 8 or 9. aunt niki and darren built me a star wars battlefield cake complete with action figures from darren's own collection. life was good sitting on aunt niki's green, fuzzy, mushroom stool licking icing off the legs of my new Snaggletooth action figure (which, by the way, would have been worth $100 now-if i hadn't let my dog Harry play with it....).
so, today jonathon reached his 8 yr milestone and we continued the aspiring jedi tradition by turning a box of duncan hines into a frenzied war zone. of course, no true star wars party is complete without eating eyeballs..on your cupcake, obviously. (i feel a need to explain: the eyeball cupcakes were in honor of the one-eyed Trash Compactor Monster from the original star wars). besides, after eating raccoon, a gummy bear eyeball doesnt really faze you.. jedi jon racked up with gifts ranging from star wars DVD's to some really nifty spiderman underwear. anyway, we are getting together at sissy's house this weekend to further our b'day celebration by adding shae and jeremiah to the list. i expect shae to get some sweet Transformers merchandise and jeremiah will probably end up with something from this season's Polly Pocket line..(if he's lucky).

so, we are looking forward to thanksgiving up north, hope to see everyone there, we'll bring the raccoon and eyeballs..