Let's see.... what else did I do during my Thanksgiving weekend?....

I oversaw one of Daisy's play-dates on Wednesday. Her school was out for the day, so one of her friends came over, and I kept half an eye on them while I did some work. They didn't require much supervision, but I can tell you this about seven year-old girls.

You know that rhyme that says that girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice? Nope, that's not true. Little girls are almost entirely comprised of screams and squeals.

It seemed like those two girls spent most of their day screeching in joy, fear, excitement, hunger, boredom, exhaustion, nonchalance, ennui, etc. They are at least 98% volume. Still, I got a fair amount of work done. I'm pretty good about ignoring screaming. Every once in a while I'd check on them and dispense some good ol' fashioned parenting nuggets of wisdom like, "NO CRACKING YOUR HEADS OPEN! IF I COME DOWNSTAIRS AND FIND EITHER ONE OF YOU WITH YOUR HEAD CRACKED OPEN, YOU ARE IN BIG TROUBLE!"

And, I went to my sister's house for Thanksgiving. She and her husband put on their usual excellent show. The food was expertly prepared, and their dinner table was festooned with a dizzying array of plates, silverware and glasses, some of which never even got used. There were napkin holders, teeny tiny little salt shakers, and mood lighting.

Sadly, most of their effort probably went unappreciated by me. It's like when I try to read fine literature. I usually enjoy the plot, and I like a well-crafted sentence, but all the symbolism and subtext always eludes me. Similarly, I probably completely missed how the rosemary in the vegetable medley brought out the green flecks in the candlesticks, or how background music matched the wine. I know there were whole levels of orchestration beyond my comprehension. Tasty stuffing though.