Island Thanksgiving

Next in our series of holiday-related posts is Thanksgiving on the Island. (The blog is, after all, called Life in Two Harbors.)

I will start out by saying that the weather is frequently beautiful around Thanksgiving in southern California. You don't feel so much like cozying up in front of the fire as you do going for a quick swim in the ocean. (Quick because the water is starting to get cold.) So many people are out and about during the day. We saw people flying kites, hitting golf balls, biking, hiking, hanging out at the beach, etc. Thing 2 and I went down towards the school to kick a soccer ball around, and had trouble finding a space with all these people out and about.

Last year, as you read here, we went to visit relatives in Arizona (although. This year, the school system did not expand the Thanksgiving break, so we decided not to travel. Since we were also not hosting anyone (no one traveled to see us, either - sniff), we didn't need to clean the house before Thanksgiving. So we cleaned the house ON Thanksgiving. Yes, we dusted and scrubbed, mopped and vacuumed, picked up and put away until the house looked like it deserved company.

Then we all showered and got dressed up in nice clothes - Thing 2 even wore long pants AND combed his hair - and prepared for one of our rare formal dinners. Extra leaves were put in the table to hold all the food; the wedding china was broken out (bad choice of words); champagne and sparkling cider were chilled; the good silver was placed in all the proper locations (prompting questions from the Things about the little fork above the plate); napkins were laid out.

Who is this kid?

Well of course no shoes. It's still the island...

Sweetie began bringing out the feast: traditional turkey with stuffing, cranberry dressing, a nice squash dish, peas with little onions (one of my favorites). We toasted the good things in our life - family, security, freedom, sparkling cider - and dug in. We talked about the Pilgrims and reminisced about visiting Plymouth this summer. When the carnage was over, it was all I could do to stuff down a delicious piece of pecan pie.

Around town, some families were celebrating just with immediate family, like us, others had invited over friends; some were dining at the restaurant where you can order a plate of food or an entire Thanksgiving dinner - turkey, trimmings, etc - and take home the leftovers; some yachties had gathered their extended families at the Isthmus Yacht Club for a home-away-from-home Thanksgiving; and up the hill the Banning house was also hosting family get-togethers. 

It's a time of year that Two Harbors doesn't feel like a tourist destination. It feels like, I don't know, a big backyard, and that's nice. If you ever get the chance, I'd highly recommend it.