3 plates being prepared: for Emmett, Emmett's mom, and my dad's girlfriend (who already has a turkey but thought all the sides sounded delicious and requested a small plate of sides).

BIL has set up a gigantic Zoom thang so family in CA, OR, NV, IN and CT can all connect, so there will be much Zooming and phoning. Except my maternal aunt, who will be having an in-person Thanksgiving dinner with her big brother and SIL--none of them will be participating in our Zoom because we will not avoid political discussion if it comes up (and it will), all of it moderate to solid left, and we couldn't promise there wouldn't be any ranting or gloating. So, they're absenting themselves.

BIL's dumbass oldest nephew will be Zooming in from his room of isolation, where he remains after testing positive after attending an MF'ing three hundred person wedding. Because Indiana.

I've reached the wine and cheese/charcuterie plate part of the day. Right on. Murderbiscuit is very interested in the cheese and charcuterie.

Had family Zoom with my family earlier, and there will be one with Tim's family later on. Just have to wrangle cooking dinner later (I've never cooked a Tofurkey roast -- this should be interesting!).

Atropa, you're something else. Thank you, I'm in awe.

Three hundred person wedding sounds awful in normal times but during covid? Jesus numbnuts wtf.

So work was ok. They weren't feeding us today like I thought so I had lunch from the QT gas station , which isn't that bad really

M has cooked all day and it is almost ready. Stuffing is Stove Top but everything else is home made. Except the rolls.

M's mom DID go to his brother and sisters houses. His brother had I dunno how many people but more than they've had for Sunday dinners.

AND she ate so much she doesn't want what M has made.

I've reached the wine and cheese/charcuterie plate part of the day.

Oh right, I can do that as a fancy meal for today! (We had bought a ham, because the Madwoman said "Haaaaam", but all of us forgot that the Madwoman not knowing what day it is (ever) or celebrating holidays (extreme misanthrope) + us forgetting to remind her last night means we ... don't actually know what we're having for meals today. If I could eat popcorn, I'd recreate the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving meal.)

I heated up my restaurant dinner and ate it. Now I’m over full, and still have some left. The food was ok, but the “cheesy mashed potatoes” were super weird. They had like....hash brown shreds running through. No idea if it was potatoes or turnips or onion or what? It didn’t taste bad, I kind of liked the texture, but not what I picture for “mashed potato”!

Thanksgiving meal was turkey & etc. from a local Davis Square restaurant, which was ready right when I got there (lots of people waiting there, socially distanced, but she called out my name first, so yay!) and pretty yummy. I remembered to get jellied Ocean Spray cranberry sauce, and proudly displayed it on our table in the proper red monolith format (as God and my Mom intended).

I dined at 1, and then took pie to Amyth at 4:15. She’s having Thanksgiving dinner with her best bud from high school and her friends who moved down from NYC and have been taking care of her. We were able to chat for a bit, and she mentioned that really appreciates all the contributions from the Buffistas, so I’m passing along a big thank you.

Now the dishwasher’s running, the cats have been fed, and I’m going to become one with the sofa for an hour or five.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The turkey thighs that I dry brined for a day and then rubbed with butter before roasting turned out great. The skin even was crispy and delicious. Potatoes were good, gravy was passable. I only bought two thighs, but they were big ones, so now I have a lot of leftover meat. I may make another attempt at gravy tomorrow with the drippings that I saved.

I didn't prepare dessert, but perhaps I will make cookies later.