I was part of a six-person Thanksgiving last night: me, my parents, my Uncle Greg and Aunt Peg, and my college-age cousin Cindy. (Uncle Mike and Aunt Nancy had tried to get down here from Olympia, but the Traffic Gods looked at them and laughed and said "Yeah, right"; they had to turn around in Chehalis. We wondered what they were doing for Thanksgiving dinner. I speculated it was "Peking Duck, like in A Christmas Story.") We rode in my mom's new and high-tech Volvo -- heated seats! fog lights! windshield mister! a display saying how many miles to an empty tank! smoooooooth riding -- over to the nearest Walsh family house, in Dayton. Visiting commenced, as did snacking, plus watching first the Dallas Cowboys/Tampa Bay Buccaneers game and then the Miami-Boston College game, along with copious replays of Doug Flutie's literally last-second "Hail Flutie" pass from the November 1984 matchup of those teams. I remember watching that highlight a lot that Thanksgiving, even though at the time college sports were barely on my radar back then; it was memorable, though. And I wonder if I actually did see that game on TV, but my memory isn't strong enough for me to be sure.

Our dinner was good, and (I'm proud to say) I didn't go nuts and stuff myself with 3,000 calories. I was actually moderate. Plus we had really good white wine from the Tarara winery of Leesburg, Virginia. This was the wine Tarah and her parents gifted to me at Tarah's wedding this summer. A lot better than the other white wine we opened last night. (The non-alcoholic option was good, too, a sparkling pomegranate juice from Trader Joe's.)

Today, I can relax. I don't have to work today -- only the second Thanksgiving since 2001 where I didn't have to work Friday! -- and I'll visit with family more, and head home tomorrow. Bringing leftovers with me, no doubt.

And now, the slight football rant:

Earlier on Thanksgiving, I was glad to see former Duck and current good guy Joey Harrington get his first Thanksgiving football victory, against his former team the Lions. I was annoyed later with the Fox Sports commentators, needing something else to talk about after the Cowboys steamrolled the Bucs that game's second half, who complained that Harrington never smiled. Uh, yeah, guys, he did, you just didn't see it or you ignored it. Oh, he smiled on CBS's post-game coverage: one of those broadcasters asked him if it felt good to win against the Lions, and Joey said, "Well...yeah, frankly!" and chuckled. But oh, that's on the competition, and, since it wasn't part of the actual game, could be ignored. The ice bath Joey got after his game wasn't really officially part of the game, either, but the Fox guys could make fun of his not-too-happy expression there, forgetting that not everybody likes ice baths...