Thanks

Alison and I hosted Thanksgiving for the first time this year. Here's the low-down:

Shuaib came to town for the entire weekend. He's still as soft-spokenly sarcastic as always. Alison and I decided it would be funny to wear the matching Simpsons pajama pants Sharon and Ashley gave us, during his visit. (Awww, we're so cute you could vomit.) Shuaib was suitably horrified.

Attending the feast itself were 7 people: Nick and Amy, Lisa and Greg, Shuaib, and lastly Alison and me. Thus, we had a very geeky Thanksgiving.

Here are a few nuggests of wisdom that we acquired while preparing the meal:

• Sometimes, the bag of giblets can be surprizingly well hidden. Extensive searching my be required.
• You should never give your guests an exact time at which they should arrive and expect to eat. You should just have them show up in the morning, still in their pajamas, and be there.
  
• Alton Brown knows his turkey.
• Brining is good.
• "Halaal" must be Arabic for "tasty".
  
• A 21-pound turkey is significantly more than enough to feed 7 people and have a reasonable supply of leftovers.
• A single pumpkin pie suffices to feed 7. Two pies is overkill.
  

We also played Cranium, which is, of course, the board game traditional for this holiday. I believe the Pilgrams challenged the Native Americans to a round of Cranium on the first Thanksgiving. The natives must have lost and, as a result, were wiped out and had their land stolen via both biology and technology.