Many Thanks

 

Mommy: "Are you guys ready for Thanksgiving? Daddy had to work last night so we will have dinner when he wakes up."

 

Tamayuki: "Can I help cook?" *claps his hands excitedly*

 

Rainie: "Yuriko and me are going to have a video game tournament. Daddy said we could."

 

Yuriko: "Do we get snacks? I want snacks with lots of sugar. And maybe some popcorn because Native Americans used to eat that. How about caramel corn? Nah, just skip the popcorn and give me the caramels."

 

Naiomi: "What is there to do now that the Thanksgiving Day parade is over?"

 

Dolly: *Whispers to Iron Man* "Ready... aim..."

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A little while later...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Tamayuki: "There, that looks like it is mixed enough."

 

 

Naiomi: "What are you up to Tama-chan?"

 

Tamayuki: "I'm helping make a pie. It will be little just for us! Mommy said I'm old enough to learn to cook. When she was my age, Grammy Pammy had her doing lots of cooking."

 

 

Tamayuki: "Mommy even started decorating cakes when she was as little as me and Rainie. She said that they weren't very good, but it was still fun. Are you going to help cook Naiomi?"

 

Naiomi: "Papa told me to be a big help to Mama today, and I asked her if I could do anything. She had me open a can of olives. After my cooking at Halloween she doesn't want to trust me in the kitchen with a spoon."

 

 

Tamayuki: "Yay I did it and it didn't rip!"

 

Naiomi: "Good job Tama-chan!"

 

*Somewhere in the background shouts erupted*

 

Yuriko: "Rainie, quit playing sniper on me! We are supposed to be on the same team since we are both stormtroopers!"

 

Rainie: "You only think I'm a stormtrooper when I am really part of the rebel forces. My disguise is flawlwss!"

 

Dolly: "Hurry and grab that frag grenade Rainie! Chuck it at her before she can run away."

 

*a loud boom proceeds the two young combatants fit of giggling*

 

 

Naiomi: "Are you supposed to poke holes in the crust? Won't the filling leak out and make a mess?"

 

Tamayuki: "If you don't poke holes it will get bubbles under it and spill out all the filling. Pie crusts are kinda silly that way."

 

Yuriko: "If THAT'S how your gonna play... Take this!"

 

Dolly: "Incoming!"

 

*another loud boom sounds*

 

Rainie: "Medic! Where's my medic pack?"

 

 

Naiomi: "Here is the rubber scraper."

 

Tamayuki: "Thanks. What kind of pie do you like best Naiomi?"

 

Naiomi: "Hmmm... well on Thanksgiving it would have to be pumpkin. But if it wasn't a special holiday it would be lemon meringue. Or maybe cherry, but then there is peach too... and rhubarb! But how about Mama's chocolate peanut butter pie..."

 

Tamayuki: "Grammy Pammy made a thirty-two pickle pie once."

 

Naiomi: "Pickle pie? Ewww..."

 

Tamayuki: "She made it for Grandpa Day and he liked it because she used sweet pickles. Sounds like something Rainie would want. She put pickles on her pizza last week."

 

 

Naiomi: "I don't know what is wrong with that girl. The only thing that makes her seem like a girl is her long hair and she wears skirts sometimes. What little girl doesn't like dresses and frilly things but instead would rather play in the dirt? Once I found her digging up worms and asked her if she was going fishing. She said that she was relocating them to a safer location so they wouldn't be hurt during her spy troop training."

 

Tamayuki: "I bet that didn't make the worms happy that they had to find new homes." *takes a deep breath to yell into the kitchen with his tiny voice* "Mommy, I'm done making the pie!"

 

Mommy: "Ok dearheart, I'll get it in just a minute."

 

~~~~~~~~~

Dinnertime

~~~~~~~~~

 

Mommy: "Rainie, you need to eat some veggies. Ask Yuriko to pass you the peas."

 

Rainie: *talks with a mouth full of food* "But Mama, I have pumpkin rolls and olives. They are veggies. And there is apples in my cider so I have fruit too."

 

Yuriko: "All that cranberry sauce is mine! I'm a sweet-atarian so I have to eat all the good stuff."

 

Dolly: "Gimmie lots of that turkey!"

 

Tamayuki: "That's not turkey, Dolly. Mommy and Daddy are vegetarians. It's pretend meat that Mommy made from garbanzo beans and some wheat stuff. I like it a lot because it is yummy."

 

Dolly: "What's Thanksgiving without meat? And leftover turkey sandwiches with lots of mayo?"

 

Naiomi: "Don't worry Dolly, I can make us some hamburgers or turkeyburgers tomorrow."

 

Tamayuki: "My favorite leftovers are smashed potatoes, pumpkin rolls and cranberry butter!"

 

Daddy: "The best Thanksgiving dinner is fake meat sandwiches on pumpkin rolls dripping with gravy!"

 

 

Dolly: "Whoever attacks the pie first gets the biggest piece!"

 

Tamayuki: "Wait, I have to take a picture of my pie first!"

 

Daddy: "What kind do you want Rainie?"

 

Rainie: "Um... I want both."

 

Naiomi: "Do I eat pecan pie now and save some pumpkin for tomorrow? If I do will Yuriko eat it all before I get any? Pumpkin pie is better the second day but it doesn't quite feel like Thanksgiving without it."

 

Yuriko: *chuckles to herself* "I have the first course of my dessert right here..."

 

Daddy: "And here is my piece of pie..." *takes the whole people sized pumpkin pie*

 

Mommy: "Hey, I wanted a piece of that too you know!"

 

~~~~~

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. I had such fun doing this photo story, especially knowing that I'd be able to share it with all of you. Originally I had planned on doing a more extensive Tamayuki and Naiomi cooking show style of story, but my back problems really started to act up. I'm sorry that Rainie looks weird without a faceup or a mouth. She has technically been around since Tamayuki got here. Since she had to miss out on Halloween (because of her face) she wasn't going to tolerate missing another holiday, especially one that is all about family. I thought it might be interesting for those who don't celebrate the holiday to see a little of what Thanksgiving can be like. There is so many little things in here that remind me what it was like when I was a kid. I was always helping my mom with small cooking chores (never pie crust though), me and my siblings tried to stay out of the kitchen because we would almost always be in the way, until mom hollered at us to help. Every holiday after my brother got his NES he was constantly playing it in the background, often me being the backseat gamer because he wouldn't let me touch it.

 

A lot of work was put into getting this done and still being able to celebrate the holiday, yet even days later my heart is still full of happiness. I was really unsure what it would be like spending Thanksgiving with our DD instead of my rowdy family (I just couldn't deal with people after stress from school.) It was so much fun that I don't regret it at all. I had hoped to get more of a complete story in, but it just gives me more to look forward to next year when I will have a better idea of what I'm doing and more space. Every time I do these stories I find out more about my kids, and see how each one of them reacts. For way too many years, any holidays seemed to be more effort than they were worth, but now with our DD I have a reason to care. Never before have I found such a rewarding and worthwhile hobby.

 

~Sister Kyoya