Burlaki [back] on the Hudson

I celebrated the great American holiday with only 9 hours at the office. As opposed to now habitual 11.

At least, there was a sumptuous feast waiting for me at home.

Turkey is a rare type of meat that I have only lukewarm feelings about, so we don’t always cook one at home for Thanksgiving. When we visit relatives or friends for the holiday dinner, I will certainly partake in the consumption of the main course, but when we in the past spent Thanksgiving at home – and not entertained – we would not even bother. Natasha would prepare whatever took her fancy on that particular day, and I am never a stickler for traditions when it comes to food.

This year, my Mother is spending the week with us. And she took it upon herself to go the whole nine yards in preparing the meal. Natasha participated – she finds it hard to ignore the process of food preparation in her own kitchen – but most of the credit goes to Mom. The turkey was excellent, the stuffing – as it should be – was hard to stay away from, and it took me considerable effort to climb the stairs to get in front of the computer afterwards.

Oh the wonderful post-dinner feeling, when your eyes hurt from all the pressure that your stomach puts on them!

Dad did not have enough vacation days left this year to come as well, so Mom came by herself. She has not done much of sightseeing (after all, this is her third visit to London in less than two years), but instead accompanied Natasha on shopping trips, went with her to musical performances (have I mentioned anywhere yet that Greenwich has free classical music concerts at a couple of churches every Tuesday and Thursday?), and spent quality time with her granddaughters. Happiness all around – and to top it all, for the weekend, Natasha and I are off to La Ville Lumière. Can’t hardly wait!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I promise to get back at all of you on Boxing Day, when I’m going to loaf all day long while you toil away in your offices and your factory shops.

Chronicles