driving lots and giving thanks...

ahh, the annual pilgrimage. will would love the pun-age. yet it's true! every year, some portion of my immediate family and i trek out to the wilds of upstate new york, where it's cold, smoke-free, and sales tax is 8.5%, even on clothing.
everyone has thanksgiving traditions. we are no exception, except most people tell me that ours sounds hellish. this year had a few differences that may have improved upon some of it. tell me what you think.

wednesday
it starts with wednesday. leave the house around 8:30 am, my brother and i packed in the back of my father's toyota solara (2 door!). 2 grown people in the backseat of any 2 door car is a recipe for regression into childhood, pinching and whining, which is what usually happens. add in the fact that my father believes we should stop once during 8 hours of driving and it gets fairly miserable. especially for the people used to peeing every 1-2 hours. or at least less than 5 hours after their morning coffee. throw in some carsickness, the sun beating down on one part of the car (meaning you're either freezing or sweating), and a very uncomfortable nap in which your body bends sideways at the hip and your head is on a cooler. let's just say there are more fun ways to spend 8 hours. somewhere around 5pm, we arrive at my aunt's house. the exact time depends on if i convince my father i have no qualms about wetting myself on his new upholstery or how much snow/ice/construction there is. upon arriving at my aunt's house, she makes spaghetti and we hang out with at least 5 members of the extended family. the adults go to bed around 11 (except for gramma, who goes around 10) and erik and i go to our cousins' place to hang out/sleep.

thanksgiving day
thursday involves anywhere from 19-24 of us for dinner. one set of my relatives show up 5 minutes before we eat and leave about an hour after dessert. the rest of us are in it for the long haul. in recent years, i have been racked by the guilt of not cooking or cleaning on thanksgiving, but i've been reassured that this is best left to the experts. that would be the matriarchal group of 5 that manages to clean up dinner for 24 faster than i can "make" salad in a bag. dinner is followed by pie and jello (weird, i know) and laying around. it is the longest day you've ever lived, yet not unpleasant (unless you manage to butt heads with any number of people there that you disagree with). after you manage to pull yourself out of the haze that is tryptophan, it's time to flip through the circulars for the black friday sales. yes, we are those people. while i myself have never actually entered a store before 9am on black friday, every year, there is something that someone needs at 5am.


black friday
up and at them, george mcfadden (10 points for correctly identifying this reference)! maybe i don't get out at 5am, but we are usually in a store by about 9. there are usually somewhere around 12 of us. keeping track of 12 people in a store is difficult with cell phones, and we've been doing it far longer than they've been around. you would think that it would be annoying to drive 20 minutes to go to one store that one person needs one specific thing (which may or may not be in stock by that time), but it's really not. if you like shopping, you just look around. if you don't, you stand outside in the freezing cold and smoke a lot of cigarettes. i fall into both categories, depending on the store. shopping like this involves sending contingencies back to the cars with piles of bags. you buy things that you don't need and that no one really wants because it is $3. since it's usually $40, this strikes you as a good idea. there is traffic everywhere. there are people in your way. the amazing thing is that people are far nicer on black friday than other christmas shopping times. by the time i make it out in public, they have already finished bleeding from the icepick wound they received while trying to wrassle a dora the explorer cash register away from someone else. the endorphins have set in and they've reached the stage of acceptance. there aren't really long lines anywhere, because people know to be overstaffed.
and everything is cheap as shit.
the day ends with sore feet around 5. it's like a full day of work. we go back to my aunt's and eat new york pizza. yum.

saturday and sunday
saturday is spent lounging, not doing much of anything. sunday is a repeat of wednesday, only everyone's crankier after having spent 5 days in close quarters.
and so it ends.

this year
ok, so the improvements this year.
1) JP!!!!!
this is the first thanksgiving that jp and i have ever spent together. out of 7. so this was very exciting.
2) drinking.
this is the first year i've gotten woodchuck for around the house and that we've gone out for drinks. i actually saw downtown albany for the very first time because we went to a bar there to meet our friend julie. i know that drinking to cope with things isn't always the best idea, but i think thanksgiving/lots of family time is a good excuse.
3) less people.
on friday, there were only 8 of us shopping. remarkably, keeping track of 8 people is much easier than 12.
4) more relief.
jp and i refused to sit in the back of the solara, so we drove my car up instead. we listened to 'america' the book on cd and i peed 3 times. not on the upholstery. our climate was controlled in a compromising manner.

so improving on traditions is something i wholeheartedly encourage. however, you may not invite jp to your thanksgiving next year. he's staying with me.