Giving Thanks...

From L-to-R: Meri, George (in back), Margie, Dana, and Me
Photograph taken on November 24, 2005 / Thanksgiving

I have been ordered by the one an only, the marvelous, the celebrated, the man behind the myth, the ICON - my Uncle Alexis - to write an updated blog entry. If I didn't write a blog entry this instant, there is no telling what he would do or have the 7th ordered to do to me! Since my past blogs have been overly long and full of my inner angst I will try and make this one short and sweet, and on a somewhat cheerful note.

First thing is first - it has been a while, okay *way more* than a while, and I appologize profusely for being so out of touch! Things have just been icky and sad and confusing lately, and I figured that those blogs got boring to those of you out there, so I just stopped writing them, hehe. But please don't be mistaken - I heard all your words of encouragement, your support, your advice, and you pointing me in the direction of some good quality gay internet porn, lol. It was ALL appreciated, and still is!!! :-)

So since I don't wanna write about the stuff that is going on, I'll go through a change and write a little about Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was a very nice time this year. My mom always goes way overboard and cooks for an army. Everyone in the family always gets "their" holiday, and Thanksgiving has always been my Mom's holiday to go all out. We normally have the whole family here - grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. This year had the least amount of people at our home ever as my grandparents on my dad's side are too old to be driving far and at night, my grandfather on my mom's side is seriously ill and in the hospital, and my aunts, uncles, and cousins had other family to be with this year. But that being said, it was still great!

My younger sister Dana came home from Oneonta for a few days and thankfully brought her "Wicked" CD home with her. :-) My older sister Meri and her wife Margie came over for 2 nights, which is also always an "interesting" time, hehe :-) My Granny was able to come over and sleep over, since she shouldn't have ignored the holiday like she did last year. I'm so glad she was able to come. We were all worried it would be too sad/emotional for her with my Poppy being sick, but she was a total trooper. She even made a nice toast to all our health and happiness at the beginning of the meal, which was extremely special. Dana's boyfriend of over a year George came over for dessert. My cousin Dustin was able to stop by afterwards and came to go see "Rent: The Movie" with my sisters, sister-in-law, and Dana's boyfriend George. The food my mom cooked was traditional and phenomenal. It was the most moist Turkey I ever had...and I love my meat Moist!!! (errrr... ;) The trimming, the potatoes, the sweet potatoes, the cranberry sauce, the desserts...mmm, mmm, good!!! :) It was a yummy, sweet, emotional, and special year. Thanks Mom, for making an amazing Thanksgiving as always! Dad helped carve the Turkey too, so WOOHOO we couldn't have done it without him. It was a blast! :-)

Now, I don't wanna bitch and moan, but I do have a little pet peeve to mention. My sister Meri and her wife Margie are always into doing things their way and their way only. Now - GOD BLESS THEM for living the life they want to live and not letting anyone else tell them what to do. If I could be a little more like that, I'm sure things would be easier for me. BUT - for something like Thanksgiving dinner, couldn't they have dressed a little nicer??? They refuse to ever dress up. My sister Meri was in this disgusting oversized black fleecy thing with doghairs all over it, and super clashing purple pants. Margie was in her "Boston Patriots" sweatshirt which she wore for 3 days in a row. Now - I don't care what you wear normally, or if they wear the same damn clothes every single day of their lives - but can't they dress it up a little for the holiday? (For the record, YES my sister Dana is in a sweatshirt in the above picture, but she was dressed very nice for the whole meal, she just changed after dessert when she got cold and wanted to be comfortable for the movie). No one will ever say anything to them though, me included. If we even try they think we are "making fun" and being cute or something. Which, in a way we are, but whatever. I dress pretty nasty every day of my life too, what with working with my dad in butch HVAC and not having the $ for super nice stuff. Someday hopefully I'll dress totally gay in a creative and fun job, but that is neither here nor there. In any event, I still showered up and made my hair cute and wore a nice sweater and some khaki's to dinner - nothing crazy, just clean and nice. If my mom is going to prep-cook for a week beforehand, host my sisters and grandma in the house for a few days, and baste a Turkey for 6 hours the least I can do is come to the dinner showered and looking cute for the holiday, right? No one seems to have an issue with this but me though. Am I being snobby and should we all follow the Lesbian creed of "fuck it with everyone else" or should we look nice around the family at holiday time? Discuss :P

In any event, I am Thankful that I was able to spend the holiday with those I love. It really means a lot. I spoke to a bunch of people this year who couldn't be with their family and that made me totally sad. No matter where I live or what I'm doing in life, I vow to ALWAYS be with my family during the holidays. Life is to short to not be. I love this time of year :-)

Love Always,
Jesse :-)