I never watch TV except for Project Runway and sometimes Desperate Housewives. But I give thanks to the Thanksgiving sitcom episodes from shows that were great to begin with.
Some of my favorites:
Cheers the gang gathers at Carla's house where Norm is cooking a huge turkey that won't cook. Diane shows up in a pilgrim outfit trying to bestow her sophisticated version of the holiday on the motley crew. As empty stomachs take over good manners and Carla's special brand of hospitality comes out, a food fight earnestly begins.
Mad About You - The cute couple (I forget their names) invite their parents to Thanksgiving dinner. They go through 6 turkeys each one being ruined in one comic way after another. The last turkey gets flung out the open window in a panic by Helen Hunt.
Will and Grace - Will, Grace, Jack and Karen commit to visit their individual families before sitting down to a meal together in Grace and Will's apartment. In order to get all the obligations in and over with in record time, they embark on a road trip using a kitchen timer set for one hour at each home. It starts with Karen visiting her husband in jail, and goes on. Each visit is funnier than the other. Grace's visit with her mother leads to her mother doing a "I told you so" dance and just when Jack was going to confront his father about accepting his homosexuality, the timer goes off and with a "Got Go", they all bolt to the next house.
The Bob Newhart Show (the series where he is a psychologist with Suzanne Pleshette as his wife, Emily) - goes down as the best Thanksgiving episode ever. Bob's wife goes out of town for the holiday and leaves him and his friends to fend for themselves on Thanksgiving. While watching the football game, they attempt to cook the turkey dinner, getting drunker and drunker as the day goes on. The episode ends with a typical Bob Newhart skit with him on the phone trying to order Chinese food, slurring to the order taker "I want moo, goo, goo, goo".
I could throw in the Thanksgiving movie, Scent of A Woman where Pacino takes Chris O'Donnell to New York for Thanksgiving weekend where, among other events, Pacino visits his brother who he hasn't spoken to in years. Sitting at the holiday table, Pacino tells off color jokes and dirty stories while his family tries desperately to get through dinner. The scene ends with Pacino lunging at his nephew, administering a choke hold that nearly kills him.
I'm happy to say, my Thanksgivings were never as violent or as funny as any of these shows. So today, after watching the parade, listening to Alice's Restaurant and stuffing my face, I'll probably watch my DVD of King Kong, the original. Not very eventful, but I'll leave the drama to the TV writers.
Friday night at the high school football game where the team my son is on wins 37 - 0. Thomas has scored 5 touchdowns in the first half of 3 games so far this season!
Saturday is at the food festival at my church. Every year, my Armenian church puts on a food festival for 3 days where the retired women of the congregation who make up the Ladies Guild cook for 4 weeks making the most delicious shish kabob, ground lamb kabobs, stuffed grapeleaves and cheese pies. It is my mother's cooking all over again.
I am in the kitchen Saturday helping with a dish that is called kefta. This is a ball of 100% fat free sirloin made into the shape of a meatball then stuffed with a mixture of ground chuck seasoned with onions, parsley, salt and pepper. It is cooked in chicken broth. It may not sound like much, but any Armenian would remember their roots and think of their mother when they have this dish. It is very typical Armenian and very delicious. I would have taken a picture of it but I was too busy cooking and eating.
I look forward to the day when I retire and be a Ladies Guild member. I want to be the one who makes the kefta. Here is one of the tireless ladies that I cooked with. Gloria - she has worked in the kitchen for 4 weeks prior to the food fest making 3,000 keftas. Doesn't she look awesomely happy for a woman who has been up for 18 hours.
The completion of my fall weekend came on Sunday with the Mother/Son brunch for the football players and their moms. I have waited 4 years for this day. It is the day when the senior football players get up and, in front of their peers, say how they feel about their mothers. The truth comes out. Some say how they love their mom for being kind when the coach and the father is somewhat hard on them. Some of the players thank their mothers for doing their laundry, making their beds and feeding them. Some cry about how much they care for their mother. Some are funny. My son said he loved me because I supported him, encouraged him, made the best dinners he ever had and put up with him when his favorite NFL team loses which seems to happen every week lately. All I can say was, the day lived up to my expectations.
The weekend ends with the traditional carving of the pumpkins:
It is October - my favorite month. I wish I could have this good of a time every weekend.
