Thanksgiving eve

I'm home for Thanksgiving. I'm in my brother's room, listening to his music on his computer (The Decembrists). I've been getting ready for a family dinner tomorrow--making cornbread for dressing, a double batch of angel biscuits, four pie crusts. (Yes I make pie crust by hand. It's worth it, and as I proved this afternoon, it's possible to make four at once, which is pretty efficient.)

My parents and I snuck German chocolate cake for dinner...It's for tomorrow, but my cousin dropped it off early. We couldn't resist.

A few minutes ago, I finished peeling and slicing the apples for tomorrow morning's breakfast pie, a Thanksgiving tradition from my dad. We always make apple pie for my brother--with peeled apples and sugar. He loves apple pie... He usually has it for his birthday rather than a cake and as a little boy managed to convince my then health-food obsessed mother that apple pie was just not the same with wheat bran crust, apple peels, and minimal or alternative sweetener. "Come on Mom! It's not even worth it if you won't use plenty of real sugar--and peel the apples." This year, the kid isn't here, but of course I'm making his apple pie anyway...They don't so much celebrate Thanksgiving in England, and what is marketed as "apple pie" is very nice but something else altogther. We'll have to eat apple pie for him.

So, my apples are draining, my crust is chilling, and I'm loading the dishwasher again. "I'm thinking about having a cup of coffee," my mom says. My mom doesn't drink coffee at night. What's up? "Oh- it's 10, I guess it's too late, but it does sound good... If your brother were here, he'd convince me." I offer to make some coffee so she can lie awake twitching and thinking about him.

That kid is charismatic. He convinces people that whatever he wants to do is really in their best interests. "Oh come on- It'll be fun." He'd make super strong coffee, it would smell good, and we'd all have some and stay up for hours. We'd probably go to the midnight showing of the latest Harry Potter movie. Yeah-- it would be fun.

Happy Thanksgiving kid.