The sun shone brightly as I waved the cars forward. Yesterday was my first day of duty for the year and it felt glorious.
Walking into school that morning I could feel it in the air. The last few weeks, I’d been grumpy. Heck, almost every teacher had been grumpy. Yesterday felt different because we had a two-day week ahead of us and Thanksgiving was coming.
And so, I stood out front, waving cars forward, a smile on my face. I was wearing a hat I’d knit as a Christmas present for my mom a few years ago. It was the only article of clothing I took from her house, but I felt close to her wearing it, and happy because of the bright colors.
Some people waved back as I rotated my hand, guiding them forward. Maybe they could feel it in the air, too. The few people I had to speak to for minor infractions of the “active drop off” rule seemed remorseful. I even shared a silent chuckle with a few as we watched a clown car performance – a small car that spilled out several students, their backpacks, and rather large instrument cases. There were a few eye rolls, and some impatient people, but I really can’t remember them. Yesterday, it was all about the good and I am thankful for that.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant. While not strictly a Thanksgiving story, it begins with a Thanksgiving meal. You can read the Rolling Stone article about the song.
Here he is performing it at Farm Aid in 2005.
There are basset hound Thanksgiving stories and I am sharing with you THE classic that basset lovers all over the US ( the world?) share each Thanksgiving.
We invited several guests for Thanksgiving last year. I was putting the final touches on the table and had just pulled the turkey out of the oven. It was a gorgeous bird-in fact, the best job I’ve ever done, if I do say so myself! I placed the turkey on the table and was finishing last-minute preparations when the doorbell rang. My hubby (football addict) was glued to the TV. I got his attention, after repeated fake emergencies (house is on fire, etc.), leaving strict instructions to guard the bird with his life while I answered the door, just in case our little Annie got curious. Annie was behaving so well. She lay on the floor, sleeping amid all the commotion and wonderful smells.
I answered the door and greeted the guests, and as we were approaching the dining room, we heard the strangest noises. “THUD, MARF! THUMP, MARF, BANG!” We entered the dining room to find my husband jumping up and down because his team scored a touchdown and Annie running up and down the hallway with the turkey on her head, wings a flappin’ and stuffing a flyin’. The more she ran, the faster the turkey wings flapped. Her bark from beneath the turkey was a muffled “MARF! MARF!” She was running into the walls and doors trying to escape this big monster on her poor head. I doubled over with laughter, slid down the wall holding my sides, and my hubby actually joined me, tearing himself away from his game. I wrestled Annie to the ground, removed that mean old turkey, and all we could see were her beautiful brown eyes staring at us from beneath the stuffing, which was caked on her face and coming out of her ears and onto the floor. I cleaned her up, still crying from laughter while Annie was trying to attack the turkey on the counter for trying to eat her. The guests were not amused. We dined at a local restaurant, and Annie got to eat some healthy slices of turkey before I tossed it in the trash. I cleaned stuffing from her ears for weeks and still have turkey grease spots on the walls and doors. I hope this Thanksgiving is a little less traumatic for our little girl. Maybe we’ll just go to a restaurant this year. Happy Turkey Day everyone!
Although the story is posted annually to the Daily Drool Listserv, you can read it in You Had Me at Ahroo, a collection of posts from the listserv, compiled by Susan Randolph.
Inspired by the example of many other Slicers, I decided to see what my 4th graders would do with the 100 Things I’m Thankful for Challenge. I worried there might be groans.Instead, I got kids asking, could they take it for homework and asking if they could go past 100! I keep saying these stream-of-consciousness impulsive puppies are kind hearted. I worked on my list while they worked on theirs. I walked around a bit to monitor and saw some wonderful things on their papers. rather than listing my 100, I’m going to give a sample of some of the things they came up. I chose on thing from each student’s list.
booksandbassets 