Thanksgiving was yesterday, and I still haven’t fully recovered my appetite. It can’t be that I ate too much, because I’m quite sure that I didn’t. The serving sizes at the restaurant were pretty well controlled, actually. I didn’t feel stuffed, the way I have after past Thanksgiving dinners. The only time I eat a lot is when there’s a lot of food, and that doesn’t happen very often.

Yes, that’s right, the family got together and filled up our own private little banquet room at the restaurant yesterday. We didn’t have to eat off the special Thanksgiving menu, but I believe we all did. I know that I had turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy, along with a salad, plus pumpkin pie for dessert. The other entrée was prime rib, but I’d already had that in San Francisco Sunday.

It’s a good thing we had a private room, too, because not everyone was feeling as festive as we were. Early on, while we were exchanging gifts and laughing at them, a man in the main room very pointedly got out of his chair and pulled our door shut, with some emphasis. We got a lot of mileage out of that incident, kidding the waitress (who assured us we were not too loud). Every time she opened the door, we shushed each other in an exaggerated fashion. I only wish the old gentleman could have been having as much fun as we were.

The gifts, by the way, are a new tradition that we started last year. The adults in the family draw each other’s names, and we come up with something interesting or funny, but within a strictly limited budget. Nothing over ten dollars. That keeps it from being an obligation, although I found myself scrambling all over town the last two days before the holiday looking for cinnamon chips, which I never found. That’s another story, though.

D.J. and Dakota were with their father this year, so we had only Aiden and Kylie with us. Kylie got a little fussy after a while, but all she needs is to be the center of attention, and when you’re that beautiful, it’s not very difficult. All in all, she was fine, playing with her toy fairies, and dropping them casually on the floor to make sure David had something to do. It’s great fun to make Daddy pick things up, you know.

Aiden was a perfect little gentleman. He had his Lego’s, and as soon as they came out he handed them to his Uncle Eric, asking him politely to make an airplane for him. He also got a new toy bulldozer, with a whistle that always seemed to be blowing whenever the door to our room was opened. I’m sure our friend outside enjoyed that. Aiden doesn’t eat much, but he asked me for a piece of bread, which I gave him, and he was happy to see some French fries arrive, and he had his own piece of pumpkin pie, which he ate in the tiniest imaginable bites. There was still a lot left when he was finished.

It was still early when we left, so Tammy and David asked me to come by and watch Survivor with them. It was so early, in fact, that by the time the show started, they had already put up a roomful of Christmas decorations. This was all done, of course, with Aiden’s help and under his supervision. He was everywhere at once, and he has his own shelf where his snow globe, his snowman, and his stuffed reindeer (with the nose that lights up) reside. I think he was finally starting to wind down when I left at 9:00 pm. I know I was.