Thanksgiving in the "Great American Southwest," Part Three

The week in the desert was excellent. Some annoying things here and there, but nothing really wacky to report on. That is, until the main event on Thursday afternoon.

Mom and Dad (in-law) invited their dearest friends over for Thanksgiving. We will call them Fred and Ginger. They split their year between Utah and Portland, Oregon. They planned well for retirement, as they both had excellent jobs, and live fabulously. Both Fred and Ginger are really sweet, especially Fred, as he seems to be the softy of the two. We all talked about interesting things over wine and champagne before dinner. It was fun, easy going, lots of hugs and kisses on the cheek and everyone loved on the baby. They even brought her a stuffed turtle (wearing a bike safety helmet). Really cute. So we eat dinner, all praising Mom for her excellence in turkey-stuffing-gravy-potatoes(me)-sweet potatoes(SIL)…all that jazz. Baby didn’t really eat much and was pretty fussy. She ended up going to bed early that night. Too bad because she was a real star earlier. But as stars do sometimes, she crashed and burned a little earlier than expected.

So we finish dinner and the party scatters around the house to different areas. Some do dishes, some watch the Broncos game, but I made the mistake of sitting too long at the table. By the end of dinner I had a nice buzz thanks so much to my sister in law who kept filling up my glass (thanks!). I’d probably had 1.5 glasses of champagne and another 2 of red wine. I wasn’t falling over in my mashed potatoes or anything, I kept it classy. But I was vibrating a little and this hindered my ability to make a good getaway. So then Ginger, mom and I are at the table and Ginger starts in on Israel. Time for an aside!

As I’ve mentioned before my husbands family is Jewish. I mention this only because usually, people who are Jewish have very strong opinions about the current state of Israel and Palestine. My in-laws and husband are an exception to the rule. I want to think that when we’ve actually discussed it (not often) that they feel both parties are to fault, etc. Which is also how I feel about it. Back to the story…

So I don’t remember how we got on the topic, but Ginger starts touting “facts” from books she’s read that have to do with how the Muslims are increasing in number around the world at a pace that will have them essentially take it over and wipe out the Jews. She even gave me a year. And she talked about how the current government isn’t doing anything to support Israel (hello, a little early!) and that Obama’s “Muslim background” is leading him to support the Arab states. And how my generation doesn’t understand how dangerous that is. I actually tried to argue with her, but she beat me back down every time. And you know that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you are angry or nervous? I had it. Somehow during the conversation, Mom made a genius getaway (for her, its been there done that). But I was stuck, buzz killed, being talked at by Ginger. That being said, I can understand her passion. She’s Jewish and is obviously a conservative. Her son and his family also live in Israel, so it comes with the territory. Though throughout most of our…her conversation I wanted to run away, I also felt that she should be able to share her opinion about something she is so passionate about. Later in the evening as we said our goodbyes, she said, “I hope I didn’t bore you earlier.” I wanted so badly to tell her that her conversation was interesting, but that she should be more open to listening too. But I didn’t. I just told her how interesting it was. Everyone had pity on me later that evening. Apparently everyone but my husband and myself had sat through that before.

My nerd brother-in-law found online somewhere that the space shuttle and space station would be making a visible pass across the sky at a certain time on Thanksgiving. We all got to go outside and watch it. It was really quite wonderful.

Mom and Dad also have a hot tub, which Derek and I used 2 or 3 times. It was great at night because you could watch the stars with absolute clarity. It was almost as if we were closer to them…well, it was 7000 feet above sea level, so I guess we were. Ahhhh, geography!

One more chapter coming up….maybe with pictures too as promised before. Next, the journey home.