Without a Hitch
Luisa made a gorgeous bird. I mean she cooked a gorgeous bird. The way I wrote it the first time made it sound like she dressed up like a bird and looked quite fetching while doing so. She did not dress up as a bird though now I’m feeling rather disappointed because that would have been amazing. I’m glad that I’m writing this all down because next year someone damn well better dress up as a giant bird and come to my house for Thanksgiving. Anyway, it was the first time she’d ever made a turkey and it was absolutely perfect. Everything that accompanied the bird that was not Luisa was delicious as well…roasted vegetables, chestnut sausage stuffing, vegetarian

The Calm Before
The house is clean. Zeca helped clean the bathroom and Miguel vacuumed the stairs. The turkey parts are simmering with 1/2 a bottle of white wine so that we can make gravy tomorrow. Luisa rubbed the turkey olive oil and herbs and it is resting on its laurels in the fridge. Miguel is at Raquel and Susan’s house watching the documentary “All That Remains” to balance out Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving special. Zeca is in the back room playing a game with Luisa that involves Portuguese vocabulary and I’m sitting here feeling quite calm and ready to host Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. I’m not accustomed to feeling calm. I’m usually worried or harried o

China Gets Broken
In a moment of quiet sincerity, my mother told me that she wanted me to have her china. I laughed dismissively and told her that I didn’t want it. I can still remember the pained look on her face, a look that held no power over me at the time. I was in my early twenties and thought she was foolish to care about such things. A few years later, she told me that she had boxed up the china and wanted me to take it back to Minneapolis and I told her emphatically that I didn’t have room for china.

Reality Bites
Last night at dinner, Miguel showed us just how loose one of his teeth had become. It was wiggly and dangly and, despite a fairly strong constitution, I hate seeing a tooth that loose. Freaky. He then told us that he was going to do a little experiment. He said that, when the tooth finally fell out, he wasn’t going to tell us and was going to hide the tooth under his pillow and see if the tooth fairy came anyway. His eyes darted back and forth between Luisa and I looking for some sort of reaction. Luisa and I both shrugged and said it sounded like a good plan. This afternoon, when he got off the bus, I asked him how his tooth was. He looked at the ground and clearly hesita

Shouldn’t We Be Relaxing?
Not only is today Sunday (which I’ve always heard is supposed to be the day of rest) but it is also Luisa’s birthday. So, as far as I’m concerned, we should have spent the day sipping coffee and reading novels (or US Magazine – not that reading US would take me all day – geez people, I’m not a complete chimp). Unfortunately, the day was a bit busy. First, Luisa ran to the hardware store to get a cable connector thingy and a cable so that she could try to get the TV working. Then, she came home and did something magical with the wiring in the basement and we have cable once again! After that, we hung up Christmas lights outside. Luisa then took Miguel t