If I never have to eat again, it will be too soon.

Seriously, I feel like I'm about ready to give birth to a 10 pound turkey.

Dinner with the family was okay. No one was too weird or stessed out. There were no arguements or anything, so I count this as a good one, as family holiday dinners go.

Mom made chicken instead of turkey, and we had mashed potatoes and yams and stuffing and salad and pie and ice cream for dessert. I did really well at not eating too much (especially dessert, where I only had the tiniest bit) and so I didn't have that awful over-full feeeling that usually accompanies holiday meals. And no booze, just diet pepsi. My sister and I went for a walk after the meal. She's 8 months pregnant and has recently found out she has gestational (how the hell do you spell that??) diabetes, which is actaully way harder to manage than my type 2 diabetes, so we were walking to get a little exercise and help get the old blood sugars in line. Lotta good that did me in the long run.

T and I left my mom's place around 8:15, heading down to the bar. We thought we would be arriving after the thanksgiving meal they were serving for friends there, but, of course, it was all running behind and so we were just in time for dinner - the second one in 3 hours. Holy Crap! Arlene, the cook, is amazing and she had prepared this great meal for about 25 people, part of their way of thanking those of us who slaved to help get the bar up and running. So we didn't want to be rude and not eat. Shari and Trevor were there, having just come from her folks place as well, and they were in the same boat. So the 4 of us got to enjoy a second meal. And it was soooo good. Turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, sausage stuffing, green beans, salad, rolls, gravy, and on and on. I tried to have as little as possible of everything, but still managed to end up feeling like I had shoved a basket ball down my throat. And then she brought out the dessert. Really great pumpkin pie and apple and caramel cheese cake. By this point everyone was so stuffed (even those on their first meal of the evening) that it became like an episode of Fear Factor. "Come on, we know you can eat that tiny slice of pie. You can do it. Don't look at it. Just chew and swallow. Think of the 50 thousand dollars. Don't barf. DON'T BARF."

All in all, despite the sickly amounts of food I've shoved into my poor tummy today, it turned out to be a nice Thanksgiving. Especially at the bar. It was lovely seeing a bunch of the boys in the kitchen doing all the dishes so that Jessie and Arlene could relax after dinner, and the rest of us helping to clean up. And us all lying around on the couches like it was our living room, with our belts and jeans undone, laughing and talking and drinking wine.

I do have the best friends and the best theatre community in the world and I give thanks for that every day.