what was missing

i suppose yesterday was my first thanksgiving (since the one spent in buenos aires at mario's san telmo house) away from my family. kind of. i can't remember what i did last year at thanksgiving. i honestly do not remember. but i can point out a few things that were missing from the fête at boyfriend's friend's house:

• green peas
• pumpkin pie
• cranberry sauce
• dinner rolls
• spice girls
• hot chocolate with real whipped cream at denny's

i admit i was a bad guest. i was off in practice-GRE-la-la-land and it didn't even occur to me to bring something. of course we only decided to go on monday or tuesday. which still leaves me no room for excuses. i just didn't THINK. and y'all know how miss e feels about people who don't THINK. at the last minute i asked boyfriend if we were expected to bring anything. we had to bring wine. we figured we would stop at the grocery store because it was on the way to miss f's house. the grocery store that is usually open twenty four hours. the parking lot was desolate. damn! i felt so ashamed standing outside the door with nothing to offer.

well, now i know; if there is something that has been absolutely essential to the thanksgiving table, i should bring it. it's better to have too much cranberry sauce than too little, no?

of course, there were other things missing that nobody could ever have brought. i mean, the one thanksgiving liz came over and my dad wouldn't let us watching anything on tv but the spice girls. and then our tradition of going to denny's, just us kids, and getting hot chocolate.

and then when i think about the coming christmas pagan holiday, i'm already thinking about what will be missing there. family certainly will not. i told my dad i would go with him, keri, maddelyn, maybe jon, to lake tahoe. my aunt and her husband live up there. while my original suggestion was go to LA where my cousin lives(dad suggested laguna beach), it turned out that my cousin and her husband will be up in tahoe as well. so as long as we stay at a place with a hot tub i'll be ok. but there will still be missing the late-night trip to denny's!