Yes, we had our annual Strange Thanksgiving Day. The kids watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade while I chatted with Rob on the computer. I was typing a reply to him when I heard a weird noise coming from the bed behind me. Mandy had turned on the parade on my TV too and Tanda was watching the balloons intently. Now, she usually prefers animal planet channel, so I didn't expect her to be interested in the parade. The balloon she was going nuts about? Blue's Clues. I'm not sure, but I think she was expecting it to come out after her. Either that or she was doubting someone's sanity to create a blue enemy. Sorta like the Blue Meanies from The Yellow Submarine. QC was sitting beside me staring at Tanda intently, as though she were worried about Tanda's mental hygiene.

Tanda usually haunts the kitchen from the first smell of the pumpkin pies baking a day or two before the holiday, to the last piece of meat. I didn't cook a turkey this year, yes I (bad old me) committed sacrilege and deprived my family of one of the integral portions of the holiday. I cooked a turkey roast instead and Tanda kept walking into the kitchen and sitting in front of the stove. She could smell the ham roasting, but no real meat. Where was the turkey? I gave her a slice of turkey roast, but it isn't the same and now she's depressed. What if I change Christmas too? All three cats got their canned turkey and gravy, QC got her mashed potatoes and Berfert got a slice of cranberry sauce. Turns out he loves guacamole dip too. Strange cat. Tanda eats the chips and he sneaks into the dip. We don't leave food out at my house. Tanda loves french fries, but hates mashed potatoes. According to her, I over process them once I put them in a bowl equipped with a mixer. QC is on a diet. No fried foods for her, she will only eat mashed potatoes, but only if I put homemade turkey gravy on them. How she knows is anyone's guess. I made homemade gravy using the roast and my own add-ons. She loved it. Strange cat.

We didn't watch sports yesterday. The cats didn't mind. They watched movies with us. This includes chips and dip (QC and Berfert were happy) vegie snacks and nuts. Turns out that both Berfert and Tanda love shelled nuts. Like the kids, they prefer hazelnuts, my favorite. I got 1 nut before they cleaned out the rest of the hazel nuts. There are a ton of almonds and walnuts left. For Christmas, I'm buying a bag each of hazel nuts (sorry Hazel Az), mixed nuts, and peanuts. Maybe I'll get 2 hazel nuts before kids and cats chow them down. If that doesn't work I'll hide some for me next year.

We had a full dinner even though I cut down on the number and size of our dishes. I didn't serve a lot of the goodies I love and am not supposed to have. I haven't tried my sugar free pumpkin pie yet. I figure I can have a slice for lunch. The cats, of course, love pumpkin pie. I told the kids that all five of them have to share the two pies I made for them. The none of them, fur or bare are happy. I told them I'm not making 6 pies so they can each have their own. They still aren't happy.

We watched Home Alone 2 on TV last night while I chatted with Rob on the computer (thanks for computers). Turns out that Berfert is scared by MacCauley Caulkin's (whatever the kid's name) scream. You know the one, where the kid puts both hands to his face and bellows out "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" when he gets scared. It's in his contract to make that scream at least once per home alone movie. He's a great actor though, saw him in some stuff where he is utterly terrifying. Anyway, Berfert is scared of the scream. The kid screams and Berfert come's barrelling in to hide under the bed. Surprise! The movie is on in here too. He zips back into the living room, still on, back to my room, and its the same thing. The cat hid in the bath tub for a half hour before he decided it wasn't going to get him after all. I swear the girls were laughing at him as much as I was.

Poor Berfert. He got me back later. I talked to him and scritched his little head for a while and he sexually molested a towel on my bed. Drug it up onto the bed beside me and went at it. Berfert is a neutered male, and what pleasure he gets from his towel is dubious at best. He growled at me when I tried to remove his partner from my bed. It was the first time I've ever heard the cat growl at anyone. I think I've been cheated on.

So I now sit at the computer writing while everyone is dealing with their emotional hangovers. Tanda is pouting about the lack of turkey, QC is flat on her back with her paws and tail stretched out starfish position, and Berfert is sitting on my bed having a cigarette. I would call it a normal, strange, Thanksgiving.

Copyright © Pam Shirk
November 27, 1999