Thanksgiving 2003

How was everybody's thanksgiving? Hopefully as good as mine. This year my roomate invited me over to his parents house because I sadly wasn't able to make it back to Parma. I've been traveling so much lately I needed a break from flying. I was disappointed because Thanksgiving at the Mizanin household is so much fun. Every year my Aunt cooks and we rag on her about how dry the turkey is. She's gotten better over the years but I'm still sucking down water from a turkey she fed to us 5 years ago. Don't think I forgot about that one Aunt Mary. Last year I didn't go home either, so maybe she's gotten better but I haven't heard any feed back from the fam so I doubt it. Thanksgiving at the Mizanin household is very casual. We don't really dress up, hell we don't even eat together. We fix our own plates and eat when we want. Most of the time we don't even eat at the table. The whole family is spread throughout the entire house. We use paper plates so we don't have to wash dishes at the end, which I think is a very smart idea on our part.

Any ways...back to this year's thanksgiving. I was kind of nervous going to my roomates house because I never met his mom before. How wierd is that; I've been living with the kid for almost 2 years and never met his mom who lives right down the street. I brought a bottle of wine because I didn't want to come empty handed and I didn't feel like cooking anything. I think wine is the best thing to bring to a holiday dinner unless you are known for making something. I didn't want to ruin everyone's appetite with my special PB& J sandwiches. Wine really gets everyone settled and in a good mood.

I arrive and am greeted by my roomates girlfriend Mandi (Mandi Perkins Band) who tells me I'm an hour late. Now I thought I was supposed to be there at 5:30 so I came at 5:45 which I feel is fashionable late. I didn't want to be the first one there, but I didn't want to be so late that I was rude. Can you tell that I took a lot of time planning this out. Well it just so happens that I was supposed to be there at 5. Oops. Now I look like an a$$hole but luckily the food wasn't ready yet.

I look around the room and everyone is very nicely dressed. All of these people would have felt akward at a Mizanin Thanksgiving. Luckily, I was dressed in that inbetween stage: I could fit in the casual or nicely dressed. I think everyone has one of those outfits that fits in with every type of atmosphere. It took some time to find the right outfit but it all worked out in the end. Damn i'm starting to act like a women. The conversations were already started so I just ease dropped to find out what everyone was talking about. Now usually I would start talking right away but I couldn't help notice that everyone had this beautiful South African accent. I didn't know it was South African until they told me so don't think I knew that right away. Come to find out that most of Ari's family is from South Africa. Now I guess you can say I'm a little ignorant on South Africa because I thought it was like Ace Ventura When Nature Calls type place. They really proved me wrong. I did find out some more things, I really want my wife to have a South African accent. Then I could stop doing the nodding of the head, acting like I'm listening and really listen.

Finally we get to the dinner table and the good china is out. This is where I realized I was out of my element. Where were the paper plates and dry turkey? Wait we can't go eat by the TV? Hell at this table I had a name tag where I was supposed to sit. It was so beautiful the way Ari's mom set it all up. I had too many forks and spoons. I thought I only needed one of each not three. Then there were courses that Ari's mom set up. First was the salad which was amazing. Then came the most amazing turkey i've ever eaten. This is no joke. I'm used to really dry turkey and have grown used to it but Ari's mom's turkey was the most amazing thing I've eaten in years. So of course I had a big serving and felt like a fat a$$ when I was the only one to clean my plate. I even made those screaching noises with my fork, which was probably not the best idea to do at this table. But I was enjoying myself. I thought that was the last thing but no there was one more course. The desert. Oh boy screw my diet, I dove into all 4 desserts. I think I was the only one to do that. I'm not the classiest guy when it comes to eating all of my friends know that. I'm like George Costanza when I eat. I think Ari's mom really liked that I was eating a lot though. I think it's a compliment if you ask for more, don't you?

After dinner I went into the living room where all the adults were sitting and talking. I wondered why all the 20 something's didn't come back into the living room to chit chat. After about 15 minutes of talking I excused myself and said I was going to the bathroom. I wasn't though, I wanted to know where all the people my age went. Come to find out they were washing the plates and cleaning the table off. Boy did I feel like the biggest prick in the world. I come over to this house that I know 2 people at, eat all the food, and don't help out with the dishes. I'm a jerk. I couldn't help but laugh at the whole situation. I'm not used to this formal stuff. I'm used to throwing my dishes away and usually our table stays pretty clean because no one eats at it. So I helped out with what was left which was nothing really. God I'm such an idiot sometimes.

We finish cleaning and go back into the living room. I couldn't help notice how different everything was this year. No one was making fun of each other. That's all my family does is rip on one another. That's why I look forward to going home. I did miss my family this year, but Ari's family was so nice it was definately a pleasant change and the best food I've ever tasted. Thank you to all of them especially Ari's mom for making my Thanksgiving so wonderful.