Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving began with me waking up early, but trying to keep it a secret. I was reluctant to head downstairs to begin the day. Even if it meant a coffee headache, I felt that a little time to myself was in order as I would have the wonderful job of chauffeuring Granny in her car to the Thanksgiving festivities. (see. Ride of Her Life) Of course my sister and I have lived here a year now but my sister is still not allowed to drive Granny's car. I knew some very strong coffee would be in order to handle the trip, but I just needed some time. Eventually, I did make my way downstairs to where Granny was just finishing up 3 hours in the bathroom. She wheeled out wearing a fuchsia sweatshirt with a giant beaded reindeer on the front, along with her diamond earrings and diamond studded heart necklace. It's Thanksgiving so she had to pull out all the stops. Of course her concern was was that she was overdoing it with all the diamonds, however I thought the fuchsia sweatshirt and beaded reindeer was overdoing it. Once we were all ready to leave and we'd locked all the locks, and turned out all the lights, and turned off all the heaters and double checked the locks, and double checked the lights and double checked the heaters, I was allowed to get the car out of the garage and bring it around front by myself. It was just enough time to adjust the mirrors without Eagle Eye staring me down. A small blessing. We got Granny in the car and off we went. It was a silent hour drive to Mom and Dad's except for Granny falling asleep, but pretending she didn't. She likes to nod off for a good 20 min then she pops open her eyes and says something completely random like we were in the middle of a conversation. I never know quite how to respond. At Mom and Dad's I allowed the rest of the family time with her, while I enjoyed the company of everyone else. Of course dinner was delicious, Granny made a point of letting Mom know she'd seen the pretty floral plates Mom picked out, but had passed them by because she thought the pattern was too busy, and how amazingly Mom had made them work. After dinner my sister and I were playing games with my cousin and the friend that he brought when out of the corner or our eyes we saw the walker...... There across the room Granny sat bundled up, walker pointed toward the door with the purse hanging from one handle and on the other handle the thermos bag that had held her "famed" pistachio pudding salad. My sister and I looked at each other knowingly and then we both employed the tactics we used as children. Avoid eye contact and hope to stretch out the inevitable just a little longer.