Day 363 Salamat

Thanksgiving isn't really a big deal in my family. Whether it's because my parents didn't grow up celebrating it or because I discovered that Indians were slaughtered at the first Thanksgiving, it's not really our big holiday. Christmas and New Year's, for sure; but we don't think of Turkey day as the gateway for the holidays... more so the gateway for Black Friday.

Billy's back in town so I bound downstairs and say hello, carrying with me the multitude of magazines and wedding planning binder that I got as the Baby's "graduation present." He looks just as horrified at the material as the Baby did and that girls could find 354981 ways to wear a wedding dress. He, like the Baby, wants a marriage,  not a wedding, but I'm trying my darndest to get them excited about it all because, c'mon!!! It's a wedding!! And not just any wedding; it's the first wedding in my "generation" and the first we've seen in half a decade.

Needless to say, I'm pretty fucking excited.

Mommy's still finishing up on dinner. No Turkey for my family; we get a rotisserie chicken or, as Mom likes to put it, "The smaller cousin of the turkey." There are no mashed potatoes with gravy or cranberry sauce or stuffing or any pie of any kind; just a host of Filipino food and a cheesecake sitting in our fridge. Before we sit down, the Baby encourages Billy to play a few rounds of Kinect Adventures and it's pretty funny to watch them jump up and down trying to avoid virtual rapids. Dad watches from the side, jokingly lamenting how he couldn't play with his bad back and Mom calls us to eat after a few rounds.

I say the prayer, stumbling over the words because I haven't done so aloud in a while, and we dig in. Billy tells us about his 11-hour-drive to Miami, Mom manages to crack a smile and even makes a joke (shock!!) and it's a really nice dinner that makes me wish I didn't have to go to work...