Thanksgiving 2011

Time for a quick recap of the events surrounding Thanksgiving 2011.

We stayed in Spokane for the week of Thanksgiving. Uncle George, who was the only out-of-Spokane Skidmore who came to town for the holiday, flew in on Tuesday night so we spent the vast majority of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at Papa and DeeDee's house (Papa and DeeDee are the somewhat self-chosen grandparent names for my father and mother).

Someone let a bug into the house

We should have known something was up when Sam fell asleep at the foot of DeeDee's couch on Wednesday in the early evening. Up to that point I could have counted on one hand how many times Sam has fallen asleep while in the middle of something. To keep things simple and since we were coming back early the next day, we transferred the sleeping Sam to my parent's guest bedroom and took the rest of the kids home. At around 11pm, Isaac woke up crying, which in of itself, isn't strange; but this time the poor guy was covered in his own vomit. Between Amanda and me, we were up with him the rest of the night. The poor guy kept yaking even when there wasn't anything in him to yak. Sure enough, when we called the parents in the morning to see how Sam's night was, we were greeted with a similar report: violent, frequent vomiting. It was a tough way to start the holiday, but we were not alone. By the end of the weekend, the bug had gotten to a handful of other family members, usually knocking them out for a day or so.

The Uncle George Factor

Uncle George's presence, my older brother, adds a unique flavor to any family gathering. George has a rare combination of a truly gifted mind and a sincere desire to learn as much as he can. This probably isn't the time for a George Dee Skidmore bio, but a little background would help with illustrating what I mean. George has a PhD in physics. His focus coming out of school was nanotechnology, so I often describe him as a "nano-physicist", it sounds cooler than just "physicist". He received the inventor-of-the-year award in the state of Texas a few years back. He owns or contributed to the issuance of several patents. He is a very capable chef and he makes his own wine and cheese. And he is a skilled pianist. So George prepared a significant portion of the Thanksgiving meal, including the appetiser, which has become both somewhat of a tradition at holiday family meals and an experiment of form and presentation. This year's appetiser was titled "Cabbage Wreaths" (see picture) and consisted of several types of cabbage, prepared in different ways (boiled, cured, fried) and some other garnishments, including a beet shaped into a bow. Consistent with George's love of creating things from scratch, on Friday we pressed fresh apple cider from the apples picked from my father's trees. This is the second year that we have pressed cider at my parents house. After all was said and done, we generated 12.5 gallons of cider. The kids love to help in whatever way they can. The little kids like to throw the apple pieces into the device that shreds the apples and help to collect the juice from the press (however, they drink quite a bit of it as well in the process).

On Saturday night, George put on a 60-75 minute holiday piano concert which this year was hosted in my brother Allen's home on their newly acquired Steinway piano. This is the second year that George has put on such a concert on in Spokane; however, he has been doing this for several years at his home in Dallas.

Lastly, casual conversations with George around are vastly more interesting than your run of the mill type. First of all, they are much more factual as George will fact check, using his smart phone, as the conversation goes. There were several example of these throughout the week, one of which ended with my sister-in-law Shannan declaring "you are all a bunch of nerds" as she left the room after jolting awake after having dosed off during George's fairly technical explanation of three-way transistors and integrated circuits. I may not have adequately articulated it above, but George is never condescending or demeaning. I never feel dumb while I am around him. I am usually left feeling a new desire to know stuff and to better understand the world around me.

The Meal Itself

We (Amanda and I) provided a relish platter, pre-meal appetizer and Amanda's cheesecake, which has become a staple at Skidmore family holiday meals. As usual, we all went around the table telling what we were thankful for. Charlie was prompted by DeeDee to say that he was thankful for Papa and DeeDee's house and Sam volunteered on his own that he was thankful for starfish.

All in all a pleasant and memorable Thanksgiving. Happy to have spent it with family.