Like it or not, Thanksgiving came around once again just as expected. This year it fell on a Thursday, which was totally expected. The date was November 24, 2011. I spent the bulk of the afternoon working on uploading music with the pleasant diversion of visiting my friend Ashleigh Heath at her father’s house. She was in the midst of making me a big fat delicious apple pie. We took a short road trip up to the store to grab some cheese, crackers, and wine for that late evening’s gathering that would be happening at my house.
But before the gathering, there was still a matter of the family get-together that would be taking place at my Mom’s house. It was the typical come-at-4, eat-at-5 affair. I ended up coming bearing bottles of soda a bit closer to 5pm than normal, as I just lost track of time a little bit at home. This promised to be a rather bittersweet holiday as it was the first one without Grandpa Murphy. In his honor we burned the candle bearing his image that was given to us by the funeral home.
Grandpa’s candle
Naturally, the food was incredible. We had turkey, ham, two varieties of green bean casserole (from Cathy), corn, mashed potatoes, rolls, stuffing, Bev’s incredible Italian monkey bread, and tons of pies (including Darlene’s homemade pecan, cherry, and pumpkin and Sarah’s awesome salted caramel pie).
Bev tries out her amazing creation – Italian monkey bread
Mom digs into the sweet potato casserole as Bobby looks on
Ed is once again caught buttering his biscuit
The desserts. Yeah, the desserts.
I spent lots of time with Silas, who was asleep when he and Ashleigh arrived, as well as working some socializing with Chris into my hectic schedule. At one point Ashleigh fell asleep and Silas was grumpy so I had the task of entertaining him for about 45 minutes. It was pure pleasure to keep him enthralled. Eventually I did get down to the basement to play a few games of pocket billiards with Chris, after kicking the kids off of the table. It was a futile effort as I was playing like poo, so I had to submit Chris as the victor. Overall, it was terrific time and I ended staying until almost 8:30.
Debby and Tyler, now regularly wearing a safety helmet
Brittney and Doug get ready to depart for one of about 36 Thanksgiving dinners that they had to attend
Silas wakes up clad in an exceptionally accurate shirt
Joe, still reeling from the pain of recent auto accident, can’t keep awake in the face of the pain killers. Karen looks on with amusement.
Silas clearly knows something that Sarah doesn’t. It’s probably something about Chris.
Livi tries to make her Thanksgiving escape plans a reality
The games come out for a batch of the Murphy females
The men all seem enthralled with the football game. But Eric prefers pie.
Nikki and Jim after a hearty meal
The tryptophan sets in on Ashleigh
Silas makes a good case as to why exactly he needs this slender blue tube in his life
Allie and Abby couldn’t have given better smiles. I wonder what they want.
Livi joins her Tange-cousins
Adam was plenty busy with the Geico videos on YouTube… until they began to get inappropriate. Something about chicken.
Silas got a taste of pie on my finger and from then on wanted to eat my hand. No, I’m not flipping you off. Jerk.
Lackluster billiards from Abby and little Brad. We threw them off the table so that I could play even lacklusterer billiards.
Megan and Denise with some great smiles. I’m glad Denise is now able to keep her eyes open for the camera.
Sarah spent way too much time on this contraption
Silas finally gets tired of my finger and needs Mommy to feed him
In attendance at the Thanksgiving gala were: Diana & Tom, Cathy, Debby & Mike and Brad and Tyler, Mom & Bob, me, Ashleigh and Silas, Denise & Aaron and Adam and Megan, Bev & Ed, Susan & Charles and Sammy and Charley (arriving late following dinner with the Gelms), Jim & Jan and Nikki and Eric (coming late after having dinner with Jan’s family), Darlene & Bob, Brittney & Doug.
I got home right at 9pm, which was the time at which my company was scheduled to arrive. It was Ashleigh Heath’s last night in Ohio, so I consented to have a gathering of a few old high school friends at my house. Heidi and Mindy joined us, and Mindy brought along her daughter Taylor.
Mindy and Taylor arrived late however, because she was busy waiting in line at a retailer to bring me a special t-shirt. It seems that a previous discussion at one of Ashleigh’s luncheons yielded the fact that I date beautiful women despite wearing t-shirts with Elmo on them. I made it clear that I didn’t even own an Elmo shirt. They rectified that with one that also included one of my favorite phrases.
I’ll be wearing this on my next date
Also joining us for the evening was Wendy Luckenbill. She was a fellow Beavercreek ’90 graduated and our association dated all the way back to the late 1970’s when she and I attended Discovery House day care center together. You can read about some of those exploits here. Despite this fact, we really never socialized in junior high or high school, but we have been friends on Facebook since the early days in 2007 when I first joined. Wendy has had quite a successful career in Los Angeles, first working for NBC and now the Oprah Winfrey network.
With Wendy Luckenbill – of Discovery House fame
With the tunes of 1983 in the background, we had a great time over wine, beer, and cheese (Ashleigh would be furious if I didn’t mention the humboldt fog that she brought – which I’m fairly certain converts immediately to gas after entering your body) – as well as that incredible apple pie that she baked. After Heidi left, the evening started to wind down, so we watched Sixteen Candles as we flipped through the yearbook.
Ashleigh assumes the movie-watching position
Mindy, Wendy, me, and Ash – as the evening draws to an end
As far as holidays go, there wasn’t much more that I could ask for than to spend it with such a loving family, my Silas, and great friends. Well…one thing maybe.
2011 will continue…
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