December 16, 2006: The Christmas Symphony
	November 12-19, 2006: A Trip to Florida
	Return to Index for 2006

About every six or seven years, my birthday and Thanksgiving coincide, and 2006 was one of those years. This year, Thanksgiving was going to be a quiet affair. Ron Mathis has gone home and Jay was supposed to be with his mother in Sherman. My own Mother really can't easily leave the Bentley Manor (and so I had Thanksgiving lunch with her there while Fred waited for our guests here). Lynne was off with her friends, and so that left Tom and John, who had accepted our invitation some weeks ago. Lou was supposed to come as well, but he came down with a staph infection last Saturday and is still very much recovering from its effects. So it is just the four of us.

There's really not much to tell. I got back from the Bentley Manor about one-thirty, and Tom Harris and John Evans arrived about three. We sat around talking and having some drinks before it was time for me to head into the kitchen to bring it all together.

The Guest of Honor

This year, I prepared better than just about any other. I did all my stuffing-making yesterday, and I stuffed the turkey last night. All I had to do was get up a bit early, put the bird in the oven and go back to bed for a while. The rest of the preparations were pretty straightforward, and John and Tom brought a couple of dishes while Fred made some dessert. So, other than basting the turkey, there wasn't much to do until it was time to bring it out and make gravy. So it didn't take more than a half-hour to get everything ready for bringing the turkey to the table.

Everything has gotten to the table, and now we're posing with the turkey before it gets carved up. Fred took a movie of me carving the turkey, and you can watch it with the player at right.

Dinner was really good; Tom and John had brought a sweet-potato casserole which was extremely tasty, the turkey was perfectly done and the other side dishes all came out just right. So I was a lot less frantic this year than I've been in years past. I even won the turkey competition with my sister this year; her turkey was just under 20 pounds while mine was almost 24. Let the gloating begin over bragging rights for the year.

After dinner, it was time for the dessert bar. Fred made a bundt cake to serve as my birthday cake, and we had two or three other desserts as well. First, there was the obligatory happy birthday song which, if you're up for it, you can watch being sung with the player at left.

Then we got a couple of pictures before cutting into things. First, we have Tom, me, and John with the lit birthday cake, and then me, Tom, and Fred with it as well. Blowing out the candles was a cinch (thank goodness for numerals), at which point I started serving the cake.

Larry and Denny dropped by a little later; they had already accepted an invitation to dinner somewhere else, but they did spend some time with Tom, John, Fred and I before everyone left about ten o'clock.

We didn't forget Lou. Together we all made a care package of turkey and all the trimmings and Tom and John dropped it by his house on their way home. I heard from Lou the next day that it was much appreciated; since his mother and grandmother have moved to Denver, this is his first Dallas Thanksgiving without them.

A very pleasant Thanksgiving and Birthday- one of the best.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	December 16, 2006: The Christmas Symphony
	November 12-19, 2006: A Trip to Florida
	Return to Index for 2006