Thanksgivings past, present, and future (11/24/08)

Two years ago we spent Thanksgiving in Fillmore, in the empty Melville house. That morning we got crackers for Allie, who remarked how Miss Sue[1] had those crackers at school. We watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on a travel DVD player.

One year ago, I was transitioning off of my crutches, and scared out of my mind for the upcoming Wednesday. I had a hard time believing that that was actually going to be the last time I would see my family. I had a hard time believing I would actually be able to tolerate being gone for so long.

But here I am, and I still have not seen my family. But it does not feel that way, because I have called twice and I get weekly correspondence in writing. Today I looked at the blogs,[2] and that was what made me realize how long I've actually been gone. I can't believe the age of my niece and nephews, one of whom I've never seen. I think Preston appears to have aged the least. Do not infer that I am homesick, because I am not. I just cannot believe how much time has passed.

This Thanksgiving is kind of a day off for us. We have our regular morning schedule until 10:00, then we can do whatever we want. We've been invited to two dinners so far, so hopefully they're at different times. I think I'll make this amazing spiced cider some members gave us a few weeks ago, and I tried my hand at it one morning. Warming apple juice with stick cinnamon and whole cloves in it tastes amazing and leaves a really good smell.[3] It will be a nice Thanksgiving and Christmas treat. This Thursday is also the three year anniversary of the first time Preston spun in circles.

The next day starts the yuletide season and is also my year mark! Scary! This week we helped a member with some yard work, and we took some trimmed evergreen bush branches for a natural, somewhat fragrant decoration. We don't have tools in our apartment, however, so I don't know how I'm going to turn the pruning into a festive hanging. But it will work out somehow.

I can just imagine Thanksgiving a year from now. I'll be at some member dinner and the conversation will go something like this:

Member: Now, Elder Melville, you just started your mission, didn't you?[4]

Me: No, actually I've been out a while.

Member: Oh? When do you go home?

Me: Monday.

Member: Oh, wow, are you excited?

Me: Not really.

Member: Really?

Me: Yeah, I mean, it'll be nice to see my family, but I'm really sad to leave.

Member: Aww. So where else have you served?

Me: I started out in Mead, north Spokane, then I went to East Wenatchee, then I went to Ritzville and Davenport, then I went to [my next area], then I came here.

Member: East Wenatchee--did you like it over there?...

This is how a lot of member conversations go, but without the part about going home.

Holidays sure are different as a missionary. It can be very difficult for it to feel like any given holiday. The New Year was my favorite mission holiday so far. And after this Thursday, I'll have come full circle. Ever since leaving my first area I've been much more inclined to try to make it feel like the upcoming holiday. I just wish I hadn't bought so much Thanksgiving candy; we still have over three pounds we have to eat. Today and at district meeting on Wednesday I'm going to do a lot of sharing. Because candy corn can get bland pretty fast.

Thanksgiving wishes, harvest love, and year-mark sincerity,

Elder Melville

P.S. I don't know how much time I'll have next week, because we may not be in Cheney for P-day. We found a new person to teach but it sounds like Mondays are the only days that work for them, and the Ritzville library may limit our time more than here. (The Davenport library isn't open on Monday, and that's why we have to come all the way up to Cheney on Mondays.)

---

[1] Allie’s preschool teacher.

[2] I would look at family blogs during email time. I figured that was just like reading letters.

[3] It has been a tradition for me for Thanksgiving and Christmas ever since then.

[4] Indeed, people did think I was new even in my last area.

The Sunday after Thanksgiving

The Sunday after Thanksgiving is the first Sunday of the Christmas season. I'm going to remember what I can about the day.

2014. We were driving out of California, and my parents wanted me to turn on my Christmas playlist from my phone. We loaded up our car early in the morning while everyone was asleep. Throughout the day we munched on grapes, bagels with lunch meat, sugar cookie Pop-Tarts, chocolate candy cane granola bars, and candy cane Tootsie Pops. A lot of the music that played was remnants from my Halloween music (since it had recently been played on my phone), meaning it was Nightmare before Christmas. At one point Jan Terri's "Rock and Roll Santa" came on, but I was disappointed when it stopped streaming. My parents had had enough when Marilyn Manson's cover of "This Is Halloween" came on. Then they switched to a Beauty and the Beast tape. It was snowy as we were driving through Nevada, and I remembered that we had forgotten our Hotel Transylvania DVD and my pumpkin-shaped pie dish. After we got into Utah, they turned on FM 100.3. They played one Christmas song, noting that Christmas music wouldn't be in their Sunday lineup until the next week (even though they play Christmas music way early on weekdays). They played a song about moms praying for their missionary sons, and my mom related to it. We went home and unloaded some of the stuff from my car. Then my mom and I went to my grandparents' place, where my niece had been staying. My grandparents offered us leftover Thanksgiving dinner. My mom didn't eat much, but I had a couple of helpings. There were pieces of bone in the turkey. My grandma was telling my mom how a longtime family friend was in serious condition after a treadmill accident (and he did pass away from the injuries). When Allie came home, she had some of the sugar cookie Pop-Tarts and said, "These are good." I think she even took one into her room so she could have it the next morning. I wrote a blog.

2013. I don't really remember this day, but Facebook tells me I wrote on both of my blogs and was excited about Mideau's free download of "O Holy Night." I think I watched "The Nativity."

2012. The ward clerk, Michael Wyatt, had asked me to take his place at bishopric meeting that morning, so I did, wearing my polar bear tie. My roommate Scott later asked about my tie and said it was winter themed; I thought it was more Christmassy than wintery because of the North Pole. Again, I wrote on both blogs, and I think I watched "The Nativity."

2011. I gave a talk at my sacrament meeting, which you can read here. Paul Castleberry told me I gave an "epic talk."

2010. It was snowy, so I asked my dad to drive me up to my church (I think I had tithing settlement). He did, and then my family came to hear me talk. I had told Allie that she needed to be quiet at church, because my sacrament meeting was quieter than the family ward and she had a tendency to talk. Consequently she didn't want to go. Michelle Moosman talked to my parents after sacrament meeting, and my mom told her why Allie hadn't wanted to come, and Michelle said, "We do have a quiet sacrament meeting." I asked Peter Moosman to drive me home; he regretted having worn Toms on a snowy day. I told him he didn't need to drive down Raygene, because I could walk, but he did drive me. He was listening to the Nashville Tribute Band Joseph album, saying he didn't like country but loved that one. I told him I had bought it at an LDS bookstore in my mission boundaries, and he said that was lucky, because he didn't have one in Kentucky.

2009. I was very sad to leave my final area of Lewiston, Idaho. At church, Brother Robinson (I think?) presented me with some farewell goodies: Power Bars, because I had "the power," and a pomegranate for the seeds I planted, and a pear for the fruits of my labors. One of my converts, Katelyn Heath, told me she had been to the temple for baptisms the day before, and I was very happy for her. During sacrament meeting for the YSA branch, I leaned over to Elder Tamblyn and told him it was time for me to leave, so he came out in the foyer to wish me goodbye. Then I got in the car with the Robisons (not Robinsons), who were driving me up to Spokane. We had to stop in Pullman to pick up Elder Hansen, but he had his suitcase locked in their car, and his companion had gone across the state border to go to church in Moscow, so we had to wait for him to return. I think the Robisons gave us some food they had packed, and I also ate my goodies, including the pomegranate, which Elder Hansen called a "weird fruit." I made myself add to my pushup queue for eating Power Bars. Then the Robisons dropped us off at the mission home. I remember asking Elder Bewley about the Carter children I had taught in my first area, whom he had apparently baptized later. He said that Jonathan was twelve and got up in testimony meeting and gave a very dynamic testimony, almost comically so. I told the story of one time when we were trying to get them to guess "Holy Ghost," and they were guessing all sorts of random things ("Nephi!"), and when we told them the Holy Ghost, Alex (a girl) said, "I know a real haunted house!" President Palmer asked how old Alex had been. I went in for my interview with him, and he asked what my longterm plans were. He told me that dates didn't need to be big things; they could just be going for ice cream at the Wilkinson Center. President Palmer's son Geoffrey was telling us about the Star Trek movie. I noticed that President had a book on his shelf about Mormons and evolution, and I remembered I'd have to read it sometime (and hoped my evil companion Elder LaPratt would see it). I was very sad and cried when I went to bed. (I've moved on with my life now, but writing this does fill me with nostalgia and a little bit of sadness.)

2008. Lucrecia, an excommunicated member, came to church, and she wanted to meet with the branch president, because she was very desirous to be baptized. Since she was our only investigator, we waited to start our Sunday School class until she was there (the others were a single sister and our branch mission leader and his wife). She was very happy when she came in. She told us what the branch president had said she needed to do for baptism--no coffee, no cigarettes, no alcohol, and then she could talk to him again. Our lesson that day just happened to be chastity. It was very awkward. The lesson said, "Breaking the law of chastity can cause you to commit a greater sin, abortion," to which Lucrecia said, "I forgot to tell him about that. It wasn't my fault, the government made me do it." Sister Moffett kept pronouncing it "prah-creation." That night we visited the Johnsons, and Denise told us she wanted us to teach chastity to her daughter. I did write in my journal that night, but I think it would be inappropriate to put here.

2007. Family members were coming up for my farewell talk. Sarena was admiring our Little People nativity and Pilgrims, and I was surprised she hadn't heard of Fisher Price Little People before. A member of the stake presidency was presiding at our meeting, and he said he had been in our ward when I was a kid. One of my mission prep teachers was in the congregation, and so was Rachel Cope. During my talk, I explained that I had come to terms with going on my mission until I sprained my ankle and thought I would have to wait longer. I talked about Joseph Smith's Civil War prophecy, and I talked about some of my coworkers. I had a Muslim coworker who thought that another coworker was a Mormon, but I didn't think so--the Muslim said she could tell Mormons because they were very nice, and she turned out to be right about the other girl. I also talked about the coworker who had been on a mission but obviously wasn't active in the Church--"She had the same name as a villain in a Disney movie, and it fit her perfectly." I didn't know whether she was mean because she quit the Church or if she quit the Church because she was mean. After sacrament meeting, my bishop asked me into his office and gave me a Boy Scout coin to take with me. As I came out, Hillary Ulmer, Latecia Pope, and Rachel Cope (all of them married now) noted that I was indeed limping. They asked, "Was your coworker named Maleficent, Ursula, Cruella, or [someone else--maybe Yzma?]?" When I said Ursula, Rachel said it was no wonder she was mean, growing up with a name like that. My cousins tried to get me to go home, but I opted to stay at church. During Sunday School, the topic was being a "peculiar people," and someone cited my talk. After church, Austin Anderson asked me if my coworker's name was Cruella, and I told him Ursula.

2003. I wrote in my journal:
"I've been bad this weekend [devious face] I've had too much chocolate (hot chocolate and candy) and eggnog. I haven't written in my journal, and I didn't read much. Oh, well. This week I'm not going to watch T.V. period. As a seminary class we're going to sing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" for the school. I've been learning the tenor part. It's too high but only one note higher than the bass, and the bass goes too low. This week I have put up Christmas Decorations."

1999-1997. We might have been decorating our Christmas tree in 1997. I can remember one Sunday when my mom was late to sit with us at church (she might have been at choir practice), and she was disappointed that the opening hymn was an ordinary hymn: "I wanted to sing a Christmas song." I pointed out that the closing hymn was "The First Noel." 

The Saturday before Thanksgiving

I've now remembered the entire week of Thanksgiving, so now I creep earlier to the Saturday before.

2014. In the morning I went to an indexing breakfast at our bishopric second counselor's house. I was wearing my cat astronaut shirt under my orange hoodie. Madi Anderson saw part of the shirt and asked, "What is your shirt doing?" Some people from the other ward came because they had won the breakfast contest we had with them. Jeremy Gibbs was telling me he had to go to his work in Centerville, and Brady McArthur and others were talking about Taylor Swift's 1989 album. Later I went to the temple with my parents. It was very rainy when we got done, and then my parents went to Winegar's grocery store to buy groceries. I hated the white shirt I was wearing and didn't want to be seen in public wearing it. I sat in the car and played music and read the news on my phone. My mom had bought pumpkin ice cream. That night I made turkey and leaf sugar cookies, and I think I made orange frosting. I watched the "Turkey Day" episode of The Beverly Hillbillies, and I think I repeated what my roommate Scott had said this previous year: "Except for the terrible cigarette commercial, that was the best Thanksgiving show we watched." I wrote in my journal:
"Two years ago today was Thanksgiving!
"This morning I went to an indexing breakfast/party. I couldn't bear the thought of trying to decipher names on one of the batches. I went to the temple with Mom & Dad. It was rainy, and I didn't like my clothes, so I waited in the car while they went to Winegar's. Then I made sugar cookies tonight. It snowed but didn't last long.

2013. I know in the evening I watched the "Elly's First Date" episode of The Beverly Hillbillies.

2012. My ward in Provo had done a turkey bowl/chili contest. I didn't participate, but my former roommate Zach Zimmerman saw me and invited me to have some chili in his apartment. He had bought a lot of chili from Wendy's to take to the contest. That night I watched the "Thanksgiving Comes but Once a Year, Hopefully" episode of That Girl with my roommate Bryton. He liked the line "Technically, you and mom aren't blood relatives either." He asked if the show was like a commercial, since Ann was dressed very well and she said she used "room spray--hides cooking odors."

2011. In the morning I had to go to a work shift. As I was leaving work, the radio was playing Lady Gaga's "Telephone," which became stuck in my head the rest of the day. I think I went to Port of Subs but learned it was closed on Saturdays. That afternoon I wanted to go to World Market, so my parents drove us out there. A radio was playing "If I Die Young" outside the store. I got some turkey dishes and pumpkin bark; we admired the international nutcrackers, and we looked at various Christmas candies. Then we went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner, and they were all prepared for Christmas.

2010. It was a cloudy day as I drove up to the church where I parked to go running. As I got close to the twenty-minute mark, at which point I would turn around, it started snowing lightly. I found it kind of pleasant, and since it was almost time to turn around anyway, I just kept going until I really did need to turn around. Soon, however, it really started snowing/hailing hard, and I knew pretty soon it would be too slippery to run. Before I got to that point, however, an older guy and a younger girl stopped and offered me a ride. I said I needed a ride to the church; they said they would take me home, but I told them my car was there. I tried to pay it forward by offering a ride to a guy with a dog, but he declined. I really had to press firmly on the brakes near my house, and the antilock brakes came on. We had to call my sister to warn her it was really slick near our house, but I think she came later after the storm had calmed.

2009. I was on an exchange with Elder Critchfield in Clarkston, WA. The members he lived with were heading to Utah, so they agreed to take my bike and some other things with them. I rode my bike for the last time. Elder Critchfield saw some people on a porch, so he stopped to talk to them. A girl said she had been pregnant when she was thirteen--not because she was a promiscuous person but because she never had a birds-and-bees talk and was curious, an explanation I didn't entirely buy. We stopped to visit a family in a trailer. Later we stopped to get lunch from a food truck; in addition to my burger, I ordered spiced cider and was very disappointed it was the fake powdered stuff. When I expressed my disappointment, Elder Critchfield (who had kindly paid for my lunch) said he had noticed the powder in the window. We saw people putting up Christmas lights, and Elder Critchfield was talking on the phone while biking no-handed, which I couldn't do. We knocked doors, and one house set up a dinner appointment because they had Mormon relatives, and in fact they were going to a baptism that night. At another house, they were watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Then I think that night we stopped at a members' house, where they talked about Elder Rand, whom I had known from the beginning of my mission. I couldn't write in my journal because I packed my journal in the box of stuff I was sending home.

2008. I wrote in my journal:
"Today was quite a meh day. No one was home, like most Saturdays. It was cold in the evening, and all the weight and clothes were not comfortable. We saw the Stackhouses this evening, and we may be able to teach Destiny [whose father had previously objected]. We had to get food for dinner and breakfast from Family Foods. Our QGIs [quality gospel invitations] were not quality today, and neither is my coherency.
"One year ago today was Thanksgiving, and I immediately left the following week. I cannot believe my year mark is looming one day closer."
 
2004. I can remember a November Saturday, but I'm not sure whether it was the Saturday before Thanksgiving. I had to work on a group project for my French class, so I had my dad take me to my classmate Kenny's house. I thought I knew where it was, but I was way off, but we found it eventually. Kenny said he liked to watch the History Channel. His brother was taking Spanish, and Kenny said he was understood the word "blue" on a Spanish channel. Two girl classmates came over. Kenny turned on the new Shrek 2 soundtrack. When it was playing the Fairy Godmother's song, I was embarrassed for him and tried to speak loudly and consistently to draw attention away from the song. One girl said, "Girls are easy," and I pointed out the undesirable connotations of that choice of words. Then that afternoon I liked the autumnal atmosphere, so I put a chair underneath our crabapple tree to do homework outside. I liked the berry-like crabapples with the fall leaves.

2003. I wrote in my journal. This was a year when I was really excited for the Christmas season:
"I'm SO Glad it's the weekend. We only have school on Monday and Tuesday. Then it's Thanksgiving "RECess." I am glad. I need a break. And it starts the Christmas season [insert giddily happy face]

November 23-29, 2014

Time to remember Thanksgiving week from a year ago.

Sunday, November 23. During Sunday School, I talked to Keith Savage, determining that we had been in the same ward in Provo. He had lived in the Wellington apartment complex. He didn't remember which ward it was, so I said it was with Bishop Taylor, perhaps my favorite bishop. He said he was a good bishop but he didn't love him as much as our current bishop, Bishop Eyring. After church, my home teachers, Michael Angerbauer and Nathan Loveridge, came by. I had told my family they were coming, and I think I had to tell my niece, Allie, to turn down her TV downstairs. Mike did most of the talking, and he said he liked our house, I think in reference to all the Thanksgiving decorations. I told them they were mine. Then he asked if I had dietary restrictions in case he brought me goodies, so I explained my peculiar habits. That night my grandparents came over, and we went downstairs on our big TV so I could show them family history things. On FamilySearch, I showed them the names I had reserved, and Grandma said, "Oh, there are some Burrells." I showed them Puzzilla and Roots Mapper. Grandpa sometimes had a hard time hearing. I journalized as follows:
"This morning I had to brush snow off my car before church. I wore my turkey tie but didn't get as many compliments as I would have hoped. I passed the sacrament and learned that Keith Savage from the 18th Ward in Provo is in my ward now.
"This afternoon my home teachers, Mike Angerbauer and Nathan Loveridge, came by. Then I napped, and this afternoon I blogged. Grandma and Grandpa came and I showed them FamilySearch. I didn't do as much as I wanted to do." 

Monday, November 24. I went to my ward's Thanksgiving dinner FHE at our first counselor's house. I was dismayed at all their Christmas decorations, and they even had Christmas music playing. One table had Pilgrim and Indian decorations on it. I sat at a table with a bunch of other guys; Boyd asked people what their favorite movies and TV shows were. I said Nightmare Before Christmas for the movie, but I can't remember whether I was asked about TV; I would have said Gilligan's Island. At one point we had a devotional (I can't remember whether it was before or after dinner), and we sang "Silent Night"--but while everyone else was singing that, I sang "For the Beauty of the Earth" instead. Our bishop said he appreciated the Bennetts' decorations because it reminded him of the previous Christmas being together. Peter Moosman couldn't eat the turkey since he was vegetarian, but he couldn't eat the mashed potatoes either, since they had been catered and had bacon in them. I had some pie; I think I had pecan pie. When I went outside, Andy Davis talked to me because he hadn't met me before; he said he was supposed to get a picture for the online directory. I told him I already had one uploaded. He asked me what I was doing, and I told him about work. Then Shannon Kelly came out and joined the conversation too, since she also worked for the Church History Department. I said that that day I had been reading about how the pioneers wanted to destroy all the wildlife in Utah. Shannon said that the previous year, the topic of Sunday School study had been the Doctrine and Covenants, and the teachers sometimes said things she knew weren't right, since she worked for the Joseph Smith Papers. Andy encouraged her to speak up in those situations. We stood out in the cold talking for quite a while. Then I went to Winegar's grocery store to pick up some items for pumpkin pie. I think I saw some pumpkin spice whipped cream, but I didn't get it. Then I went home and my mom helped me to make the pies. I actually think she did more work, but I did my best to put the store-bought pie crusts in the dishes. While we were making them, we watched Garfield's Thanksgiving, and my mom laughed when Jon came out in a ballerina costume.

Tuesday, November 25. After work, we loaded up our Suburban to head out to California. I brought my little bag of leftover candy corn of various sorts and my pillow in a Thanksgiving pillowcase. I also brought my tape deck adapter so that we could listen to my Thanksgiving music, which I had saved to my phone. I had actually put some CDs in a CD case to listen to, but we forgot it, and I felt bad. My dad had brought some tapes, so we listened to them, including one that was Simon and Garfunkel's Central Park concert. My mom said her sister would get mad when she would sing "Wake Up Little Suzie." I hadn't heard the song since I was a kid, so I didn't know how sensual it was. I remember passing a sign pointing to Iosepa, and I said, "Wasn't that a Hawaiian community?" Later I turned on my Thanksgiving music, and at one point my mom said I had weird Thanksgiving music. I remember some of their specific reactions to some of the songs:

• When Nicole Westbrook's "It's Thanksgiving" played, they had to turn the volume down; my mom said it had a lot of bass. She asked how I found it, so I explained that it had been a viral video in 2012.
• When Kory Kunz's "Thanksgiving Day" played, Mom asked how I found it; I explained that I had happened to see it on the back of a CD at the BYU Bookstore and remembered that it existed.
• When Jolene Taylor's version of "Now Thank We All Our God," I explained that it was meant as missionary exercise music; Mom said it sounded like little kid music. She later said she liked the version of "For the Beauty of the Earth." Or maybe it was the other way around, maybe she liked that "For the Beauty of the Earth" first, but then I said her other songs were weird.
• When "Sliced Turkey" was playing, they began singing along, "I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee." Mom asked why that was in my playlist; I explained that it wasn't "I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee," and it was in my introductory piano textbook, which said to play it "with a little Thanksgiving."

Jon Scmidt's version of "For the Beauty of the Earth" was playing when we stopped for dinner in Elko. We were going to Arby's, but then I noticed we were passing a Port of Subs, and I wanted to go there to get a Pilgrim Griller. My mom dropped her phone as she was getting out of the car, and it cracked a little bit. My mom and I both got eight-inch sandwiches, but my dad got a full-size one. My mom got a drink, and I was disappointed she got diet soda instead of Powerade. She said it had fewer calories than Powerade. My dad had some leftovers, since his was a bigger sandwich. I thanked them for letting us stop at Port of Subs, which my mom and I preferred to Arby's, but my dad was visibly disappointed that we didn't go to Arby's. Then we stopped in Winnemucca at the hotel we usually stayed in.

Wednesday, November 26. We got in the car, and I'm sure my dad made some joke about me not forgetting my shoes, since I had left some shoes there in 2012. I resumed my Thanksgiving music. Eventually, "Little Birdie" from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving came on. My dad said we had already heard it, and I said that we hadn't; it was a cover of the song that previously played. My mom interpreted it as a hint to listen to something else, so they turned on the radio. I think they found a country station, or maybe it was classic rock. The DJs shared some trivia, saying it was a day when a lot of people would order pizza, not wanting to mess up their kitchen. They said "Jingle Bells" was originally written as a Thanksgiving song, which of course I already knew. They also said some things that made me uncomfortable. There were some Port of Subs commercials advertising the Pilgrim Griller, which I had just had. As we were coming out of Donner Pass, it was quite scenic, and I asked if I could turn my Thanksgiving music back on while we were still in a scenic area. I explained that the shuffle feature had decided to put both original versions of "Little Birdie" next to each other. I commented that the version of "Linus and Lucy" was the best one. And I think all three versions of "Jingle Bells" were near the end of the playlist. Then the playlist ended, and I just played my favorites playlist. When Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" played, Mom asked whether the music was supposed to sound that way. Lady Gaga's "Telephone" was playing as we exited off the freeway near David's house. We drove to their apartment, which had leftover Halloween eyes on the front door. I knocked on the front door and tried to open it, but it was locked; I heard Ya-ping inside say "It's Grandma!" Four-year-old Nathaniel took an instant liking to me. He was telling me about all the characters you could be on Super Smash Bros. and what you could do with them; I can't remember whether he was sitting on my lap or just next to me. I asked him if he liked school; he said no because the other kids said he was yucky. He also had to show me his ABC games, educational games on the computer. They were saved in a bookmark, and I think he disrupted a page where David wanted to buy something on sale. (He later got in trouble with Ya-ping for not ordering it in time.) David said to Nathaniel, "Do you have an audience?" Nathaniel was in the chair and I was standing, so I asked Nathaniel if he wanted to sit in my lap, but he didn't. I asked Nathaniel if he knew what holiday was the next day, and I asked if he knew what we did on Thanksgiving. He knew we ate pumpkin pie, and he said he had pumpkin pie at his school. I asked him how many moms he had, since the previous summer he would give a number in the hundreds or thousands; he said, "Two, because Grandma is one of daddy's moms." At one point in the day, David and Ya-ping went to San Francisco with my dad to get Mexican food for dinner. I asked the boys if they wanted to go to the playground; Nathaniel was the only one who did. He loved climbing everything. I asked him what his full name was; he said "Nathaniel Melville." I said, "Or is it Nathaniel Qi-en Melville?" to which he responded "That's a totally stupid name." He said that his dad's name was David Melville, but his old name was David Boyd Melville, and he called him that when he was a kid. I said, "Were you alive when he was a kid?" and he said, "I was a baby. I said, 'Hi David Boyd Melville!'" There was a little Chinese boy who kept saying things in Chinese. Nathaniel said, "I don't understand you. I only understand English. I don't know Chinese." The little boy said, "Chinese?" Then Nathaniel said what I knew was a "bad" word in Chinese; I told him he needed to stop or we would go home. Before we left, he pointed out to me that the Chinese kid wanted me to move the zipline handle to where he could reach it. Nathaniel found a leaf on the ground and said we could make a bouquet with it. At another point in the day, my mom and Ya-ping went to Costco and got pecan pie and some pumpkin pie almonds, which were very good. I told Mom and Ya-ping about the funny things Nathaniel had said. That night we watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving; Preston was intrigued at the mention of Miles Standish, and both Franklin and Preston gave a small history of the Pilgrims. They wanted to watch the Pilgrim episode of This Is America, Charlie Brown, but that would have to wait.

Thursday, November 27. I woke up and asked Nathaniel if he knew what day it was. My dad had gone running and encouraged me to do the same, but I was reluctant. Ya-ping and Mom went shopping, including to a dollar store to get a tray for the turkey. Ya-ping wanted the boys to go out and play, but it was too cold. I was watching Free Birds that day, and David asked if it was OK if we watched it that morning while it was warming up for the boys. I said "yeah" and Ya-ping gave her approval. She later asked for an explanation of what was going on in the movie; in typical fashion David explained in Chinese. Then we went out to play; I was wearing red shorts and roast turkey socks. The older boys went and played on the field with their dad and my dad, while Nathaniel again wanted to climb the playground.

 I was holding a large frisbee with a hole in it. To free my hands, I put it on my neck, and Nathaniel said, "Your shadow looks like a clown." I asked if he liked clowns, and he said, "No! Why would you ask that!?" Then David came over to get the frisbee. Later in the day we ate our meal. They boys didn't care for the food. Mom said, "This is a traditional Thanksgiving meal," since they hadn't really eaten one before. David had said he wanted spicy Thai. Preston did, however, love the "salad" my mom makes with whipped topping and Jello powder. That night, at the request of the boys, we did watch the "Mayflower Voyagers" Charlie Brown episode. Afterwards, Preston said, "In Free Birds, Miles Standish was the bad guy, but in Charlie Brown he was just a nice guy." David said the truth was probably somewhere in the middle. (Now really, most people are nice, so I know of no reason to just assume he was less than nice, especially since he wasn't spectacularly nice in the Peanuts show.) I told Preston that Miles Standish was our ancestor. David asked Preston if he thought he was our ancestor from his mom's side or his dad's side, but he didn't get it.

Friday, November 28. The next day we talked about going to Six Flags, which wouldn't open until later in the day. I put on my new Santa socks, and I asked Nathaniel what was on them. He said, "Snowmen. I mean Santa Claus." Then we went to Six Flags and got on the shuttle from the parking lot to the park. I was amused at the graffiti that I assumed meant to say "4 Ever" but instead said "7 Ever."

We went on a few rides near the entry, then Preston and Nathaniel wanted to go to another ride, but when we got there it was closed. I called my parents (while the park speakers were playing Christmas music) to meet up with them. We found them. Later we walked through the shark building, and we ran into some of Ya-ping's friends, whom they had gotten into the park. David was in line for a ride with the two younger boys, but then Franklin decided he wanted to go ride the train, so I took him. I was glad he was willing to go with me, since in previous years he wouldn't have been. We didn't talk too much, as it was hard to hear, but we talked about favorite holidays. He liked Christmas, and I was surprised Valentine's Day was among his favorites. The ride operator asked for a group of three, but since there were two of us, I didn't speak up; but it turns out he meant three or less, so once I figured that out, I spoke up and we got on the train. I couldn't figure out how to open the door, but a girl in the seat in front helped us. We rode the train through lit trees. Later, Franklin was talking about the time the previous summer when I had sat on our weight bench and lifted him like a weight. He was saying he could be a weight for Halloween. Then we got in our car and I helped buckle Nathaniel. Preston asked, "What time is it?" I said, "It's seven o five," and Nathaniel said, "You mean seven zero five, because o is a letter." I said, "You're right, I do mean seven zero five, because o is a letter." My mom said something like, "Take that, English person." Then we went home and watched the three-minute Christmas clip of the Peanuts Motion Comics Collection. They thought it was funny that Linus was mad about getting the presents he wanted.

Saturday, November 29. We went to Point Reyes National Seashore, where, despite the name, we didn't see the seashore. We walked along the Earthquake Trail, a short, paved loop. Nathaniel and Preston ran it and got way ahead of us. I wanted to keep up with them, but I didn't want to miss out on the geological interpretive signs, so I ran from sign to sign. I was fascinated by the replica of the fence that was displaced during the 1906 earthquake.

 When I caught up with the boys, I told them that they had missed the cool fence.

 I watched Nathaniel play around the tree stumps and picnic tables. He wanted to hide from his dad and scare him, but I don't think it worked out like he wanted.

 On our way back, we put in a short Christmas tape my dad had brought. I was saying I didn't like many winter songs, like "Baby It's Cold Outside." David said the lyrics were perhaps in poor taste but it wasn't as bad as some people said, and it was still an awesome song; I said I agreed but thought it was an annoying song. It was raining, so my dad turned on the wipers; later it wasn't raining, and David said, "Are you going to turn the wipers off?" since they made a squeaking sound. Then we went to Target. We looked in their movies; my dad got Hotel Transylvania because it was only five dollars. I saw She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown and some Magic School Bus DVDs. We looked at food we could get for our trip, so we got grapes, bagels, and lunch meat. I wanted to get gingerbread Pop-Tarts, but they didn't have any, so I got the sugar cookie ones instead. They got Doritos for the boys. We looked through the Christmas goodies. I wanted to get chocolate peppermint granola bars and fruit snacks, and Franklin said, "Thanks Uncle Mark," and my mom told him that I hadn't said I was going to share with them. She wanted to get candy cane Tootsie Pops. Preston liked the "snowflake" Ritz crackers, and I said I refused to buy them because they had eight points instead of six, and David said, "Wait, is it impossible for snowflakes to have more than six points?" He seemed like he didn't believe me, and I was surprised he didn't know that. When we were checking out, the cashier said, "Getting ready for Christmas?" and I think he asked where we were from. We went back to the apartment, and I think my dad did some awkward lane changing out of the parking lot. I went to watch my Christmas show of the day, the weird episode of The Bob Cummings Show, and Preston said, "This isn't Charlie Brown." Nathaniel took one look at the black-and-white and said, "I don't like this movie." He went to play his ABC game. (He played them a lot during the trip and at one point printed snowmen, which annoyed Ya-ping.) Preston kept asking, "What's up with the grandpa?" in the episode. After it was over, we were watching Hotel Transylvania. David asked me if I could watch holiday movies out of season. I said for one thing, I didn't even know if it was a Halloween movie. David told Nathaniel we were watching a movie, and I don't think he realized that the black-and-white episode was over, so he said, "I don't like that movie!" David said, "You'll like this movie. It has pumpkins in it," since he loved the pumpkins in his ABC game. After the movie they watched a short on the DVD. David said it was a better movie than it deserved to be. The boys ate the Doritos we had bought.

 David made "fake eggnog" with spice and pudding but no eggs. He gave me some and asked if it tasted like eggnog; I said it did because I could taste the nutmeg. We also ate the "winter" Oreos with red filling that we had bought. The boys played the Clue game that we brought for them, and Nathaniel told me that he could see through my cards.

November 4

Time to remember what I can about November 4. Surprisingly, I don't remember the more recent years as well.

2014. It was Election Day, and I made a Facebook post about not voting: "The most responsible thing I could do would be to be a good citizen and know the issues and go vote. The second most responsible thing would be not to vote because I'm not informed. I chose the second most responsible thing." That's all I can remember right now.

2012. It was our last day in Death Valley for my geomorphology field trip. We packed up our tents, and I was shocked that one of my classmates changed his pants out in the open with girls standing ten feet away. We loaded up in the geology vans and drove out.

 We visited a place called Devil's Golf Course, where there were basalt rocks coated with salt. One of my classmates, Michael Arnold, said, "We're so mean to the devil." I licked some of the salt on the rocks, but they had a very rough texture.

 I was pleased to see a green rock on the ground, which I assumed to be the mineral olivine.

 Then we went to Badwater Basin, the lowest point in America. Lots of tourists had their pictures taken with a sign, which I found uninteresting. We went out on the salt flats after making a stop at the restrooms. I bent down to lick the ground. Our TA, Karl Arnold, picked up a piece of salt and began licking it like a lollipop.

 I asked one of my classmates to take a picture of me.

 Then we went to an abandoned mine and ate lunch. It was very hot. One of the TAs gave a devotional, saying that it was impractical to be fasting that day, but we should still remember it was fast Sunday, and maybe to listen to something a little less raucous. The restroom there was closed.

 We found a bug on the antenna.

Our professor went off somewhere to use the "restroom," and we had to tell one of our classmates not to go there, since he didn't know that's where she'd gone, or else he'd "see something [he'd] never forget." Another classmate told how he had been on a train and had the door opened on him when he was in the bathroom. We headed out of Death Valley, and our professor was playing churchy songs from her iPod (like EFY and MoTab). I offered my Lower Lights CD (yes, CD) to listen to. Dr. Radebaugh looked at the notes and said, "There's like fifty people in this band." At the second song ("I Saw the Light"), she said, "I listen to bluegrass on Sundays!" She skipped the song "Where the Soul of Man Never Dies," but at the end of the album she said she'd have to look them up. We passed some people looking at a layer of black rock next to the road; I thought it was an igneous sill, but I later learned it was a coal seam. (Now I know that igneous sills and coal seams look pretty different.) In Vegas, we stopped at In-N-Out. We could either eat there or eat leftover food on the truck. I ate at In-N-Out because I needed to use the restroom but felt bad doing so not as a paying customer. I did find it strange that the one time we went out on this BYU field trip was on Sunday. Someone jokingly said that we might as well be drinking coffee, since we were already breaking a commandment. We were all very ready for a bathroom break in Beaver, so we stopped at the gas station. I saw some orange Hostess Sno-Balls and debated buying them but decided not to since it was Sunday. Dr. Radebaugh bought some crackers. On our way home, I was texting my roommates to see if they could help me carry my stuff home from campus. My roommate Scott agreed to. I also got a text from our ward clerk, Michael Wyatt, and he was wondering how I was because I hadn't been at church that day. When we got back to campus, they were giving out food. I took a loaf of white bread, and maybe some skim milk, I don't remember. Soon Scott and lots of people from the ward showed up; he had invited them to come help me at ward prayer. There was plenty for everyone to carry something. At the end there was only my pillow and my bread. I let a girl carry my pillow, but maybe that was creepy. I was sandy and grimy. I wrote a short blog post.

2011. There was a lunch at my job at the Distribution Center; I think it was tacos or burritos, because I had brought tortillas. They asked me to say the blessing on the food; as I was praying, I heard Kelly Clarkson's "Mr. Know It All" playing on one of the radios in the work area. Some people had brought bags of candy. Some of my coworkers knew about my eating habits, and they asked if I could eat that Halloween candy. I said I couldn't, because Halloween was over, and it wasn't Halloween themed anyway. I explained that I could have candy corn things, because when I was in elementary school I read a Thanksgiving book called The Candy Corn Contest. I said I couldn't have plain candy because it was available year round. They said, "But candy corn is too." I said it was more common in the fall; they said, "Candy is too." They said my eating system had problems, and I acknowledged that it wasn't perfect. The previous night I had bought a bag of bulk candy corn taffy on clearance, and then I noticed that there was a produce sticker on the bag that said "5 A Day for Better Health," and I put that on Facebook.

2009. We tracted into a man whom I had met several months earlier when we attended a Bible study at another church. He was friendly and asked us why the Book of Mormon uses language from the Bible, as he heard. I explained my theory that it was to aid in the translation process, but I made it clear it was only my theory. He told us that his neighbors belonged to the Community of Christ, formerly RLDS Church. That night we visited Dianne Scott. Technically we shouldn't have been there, since there was no man present, but sometimes circumstances made it so we did that. (That rule was made for people who shouldn't be on missions anyway. But don't think I'm trying to discredit mission rules, because you should obey them.) She told us her conversion and things. I was a little surprised with how friendly she was, since most less-active members weren't so nice. Then we went and saw our Bishop, who lived on the same street. He offered us leftover pizza, and there was a conversation about how we sometimes perceive people as believing differently than they actually do. He brought up faith and works, saying he knew his Baptist preacher neighbor believed in living good lives. I said I felt the same way about the notion of the trinity. Sister Palmer told us we were welcome to come on Thanksgiving and asked what we wanted. I said pecan pie, and she said that Bishop was going to make that anyway. That night I wrote in my journal.
"This morning we did service helping Brother Ruddell and then Sister Carter. Later we tracted some and met a guy named Jack Azbill whom I met at the Tammany View Baptist Church. Then we saw Sister Gibbins, who was out in her yard.
"We had a good lesson with Mallary, then Elijah wasn't around. We had a long visit with Dianne Scott, a less-active I'd never met before. Then we stopped at Bishop's house, and talked and ate cold pizza."

2008. We spent half of our weeks at the home of a senior couple in one of our branches, and we helped them tile their entryway and fireplace. Actually Elder Love did most of it, since he was a handyman. We spent most of this day doing that, although a couple of times we changed into our proselyting clothes and went to our branch building to meet an investigator there. She never showed up. At one point I picked up a book of Edgar Allan Poe and read "The Raven" out loud. I felt bad that we spent all day doing the tile, but in retrospect I think it was a very good thing to do. I just wish I had been more helpful. We had dinner with the Christensen family at the Mexican restaurant in town. They commented on my very short hair, since Elder Love had shaved it the previous day without a comb on the clippers (or maybe the wrong size). When I told them what happened, their adopted five-year-old granddaughter Bailey jokingly scolded Elder Love. Bailey asked what we had been for Halloween. Elder Love said, "A missionary," and then he remembered, "I was Elder Melville!" Bailey didn't understand, so Sister Christensen said, "Elder Love wears one kind of tie, and Elder Melville wears a different kind." Elder Love said we wore the same tie (we just happened to have identical ties). Then Brother Christensen came with us to help the Stackhouse family with moving things from one house to another. (He was later annoyed that able-bodied kids weren't helping us.) I wrote in my journal:
"We helped with the Herrons' tile for most of the day. Not having much experience and fearing messing it up (since I never do anything right), I didn't feel like I was doing much. The times we weren't tiling we were waiting at the church to meet with Wanda but she didn't come. We also had dinner at a Mexican restaurant with the Christensens, and then helped the Stackhouses with a little moving. It was rainy and very cold today. I like my new sweater.

2006. It was my Grandma Judy's funeral, but I don't remember as much of it as I should. At the viewing in the morning, they offered everyone one last look before they locked the casket. I didn't feel a need to get up and look, because I had already paid my respects. Uncle Mike read out loud her obituary. It said she sang with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. My mom later said that she heard someone say "Huh?" when that was read, and she thought she had simply sung in a choir that was in a concert with the MoTab. The obituary was meant to sound pretentious. My grandma was not a member of the MoTab. They had all of us grandkids get up to sing a primary song during the service. Meanwhile, my cousin Peter (from the other side of the family) was upstairs in a nursery with my nephew Preston, who was eleven days shy of two years old. I felt a little bad that he was playing with my nephew instead of me--but it was my grandma's funeral. Then we went to my grandparents' house, and I helped carry things out. I think I carried some autumnal funeral wreaths. Allie and Preston were playing in the red Jeep in the yard.

I had a few "phases" at this time. One was that when I was in church clothes, I would gradually change out of them. Different occurrences would cause me to do one step towards changing. One of these steps was going outside, and since I was going outside a lot, I had a lot of times to gradually change. That's why I'm wearing a tie in the top picture, but my shirt is untucked without a tie and I have plain shoes on in the bottom. We went home that night, and while I was putting up my Thanksgiving maize lights on our fireplace, I acted on my other "phase": There was a full moon, so I pretended that I couldn't stay too long in the moonlight from the window, or else I would turn into a wolf. My mom was on the phone, and I think she was annoyed with my growling and hunching over.

2003. I don't specifically remember the day, nor the dress rehearsal for Evil Doings at Queen Toots' Tomb, but I wrote in my journal:
"Oi! It's only November 4, and already the Reeds have their Christmas tree up. I still need to take down Halloween and put up Thanksgiving decorations. [I stylized the word "Thanksgiving" with steaming corn cobs for the i's and a turkey beak for the v.] We had a rehearsal today. Our only dress rehearsal without an audience. It wasn't very good. We have microphones and whenever we walk by a speaker if the mikes are on, it makes a big, deafening noise. They echo, too. I didn't have much homework tonight, either, which is good, because I didn't get home until shortly before eight. There was pizza after practice."

2002. We were in Taiwan. I might have recorded the day in a journal somewhere, but I don't know where it is.

1996. Again, I don't remember this, but I found a second-grade journal, wherein the entry is fairly similar to 2003, even though I was seven years younger:
"This month is November. [This time the N was a turkey beak, and the v was an upside down tepee.] we don't have all of our Thanksgiving [again with the upside down tepee] decorations up, and we don't have all all [sic] of our Halloween decorations down. We'll work on it."

Three days before Thanksgiving

This time, I'm going to remember what I can about the Monday before Thanksgiving.

2013. In the evening, I watched the "Turkey Day" episode of The Beverly Hilbillies. After it was over, my roommate Scott said, "Except for the terrible cigarette commercial, that was the best Thanksgiving episode we've watched"; I told him it was better than the show's previous Thanksgiving episode. I wanted to go running, since I was super excited that I had later classes the next morning. I ran up 900 East, since it was too dark to go in darker neighborhoods. I only ran for about half an hour, since that's all I had time for. I wanted to see what an always-decorated house looked like. They were all decked out for Christmas, which wasn't too surprising, since they put up Easter stuff right after Valentine's Day. I was surprised to see a new intersection and new stoplight patterns.

2012. In the evening I was watching the Thanksgiving episode of Bewitched when there was a knock at the door. I paused the show to answer the door, and it was two of my horse friends, Kristen and Carissa. They came in, and after a minute Carissa asked if they could watch Bewitched with me. I told them, "They've been transported back to the first Thanksgiving," and I think they thought the episode was over before it was. They stayed and visited. My roommate Cameron came home and visited as well. The horses told him we were getting into the Thanksgiving spirit; he said, "By watching Bewitched?" and I said it was the Thanksgiving ep. There was talk about going to Gygi's in Salt Lake (I clued them into the pronunciation) and about going to bars--even though they wouldn't drink, I still thought that was inappropriate. Cameron said he had gone to a bar and someone had snapped his suspenders. As it got close to midnight, I told them they needed to leave, since it was almost curfew.

2009. For dinner, we ate at the Bartschi family's house. There was conversation about me going home (I'm not sure how they found that out). I told them of a video I had seen on my brother's blog where Franklin was putting a stuffed alligator to bed, and my mom had commented that she hoped he wouldn't fall on the new baby. That made me suspect that they were trying to keep the announcement of a new baby a surprise. (I found out later it wasn't meant to be a surprise; they just forgot to tell me.) We visited a former investigator named Jordan (a girl). Then we met our zone leaders at the stake center to go on an exchange. They told me I needed to take warm clothes, even though it was warm in Lewiston, so I think we drove back to our apartment so I could get a coat and some warm things. I put in my retainer, which made me speak with a slight lisp, and somehow the word "ferocioulicious" got coined, which sounded especially funny with my lisp. Elder Keddington wrote "ferocioulicious" on the picture I had drawn of Elder LaPratt, but he wrote it as "Froiouslious," which isn't even close. Elder Hansen mentioned the "Wicked Witch of the West."

On our way up to Pullman, Elder Hansen was listening to a CD of covers of seminary songs. I began talking about my Cherie Call Ocean in Me album and the lyric, "Now the Great and Spacious Building has me scrubbing up the floors; I've got to find a way to tell them I can't work there anymore." Elder Hansen made a remark about me liking LDS music. This might have been the time there were tumbleweeds all over the road out of Lewiston. It was really cold in Pullman, and there was snow on the ground.

2008. We traded our car with the elders in Medical Lake, and there was a jewelry charm hanging on the rearview mirror of the car we got. That night we had dinner with the Zellers, a part-member family. I think we had lasagna with elk meat, which I didn't like. The previous night we had had elk meat taco salad (or something), and I could tell it didn't taste like beef. When I ate the lasagna, I thought, "Maybe elk does taste like beef," since I thought it was beef lasagna, but then I found out it was elk, and I didn't like it. I shared the scripture in Alma about living in tdaily.  This is my journal entry:
"Today was an ordinary P-day with shopping, e-mail, bowling, and such. We had dinner with the Zellers. The greatest anomaly was trading our car. It's almost the same on the inside so it's hard to get used to the white. It's older than our old one but has fewer miles. I don't think Elder LaPratt, with whom we traded, likes me that much." (Elder LaPratt was just an evil person.)

2007. In the morning, I was sad to say goodbye to three-year-old Preston, knowing that I wouldn't see him for two years. I asked at the Nashville airport if they could arrange for a wheelchair to meet me at the Dallas airport, since I had a sprained ankle. When I got on the plane, we had to wait because there had been a power outage in Dallas. Eventually we left, and indeed there was a wheelchair waiting for me in Dallas. Then I got on one of the airport vehicles, driven by an Indian (as in from India) who didn't seem like he knew what he was doing. We picked up some other handicapped people, and we went all over the place and had to keep switching vehicles. It was ridiculous. At one point I went and sat on the floor because I hated standing on one foot. Their lack of efficiency made me miss my flight. I went and talked to the lady at the desk and she told me that I might be able to get on a flight that night, but if I didn't get on that one, I would have to wait even longer. I got some coins (since I had no cell phone) and was able to get a hold of Susanne to tell her my situation. While I waited I read the sixth Harry Potter, since I hadn't finished it yet. I might have finished the book on the plane. I was able to get on the next flight, for which I was grateful. When I got on the plane, a man was in my seat. But a flight attendant let me sit in his seat, which worked out well because it was an aisle seat while my original one was a middle seat. They put my crutches in the overhead storage. When we landed, a man asked me if I wanted him to take down my crutches. As I was walking through the Salt Lake airport, some people said, "That's a terrible way to travel!" When I exited the terminal, my mom was holding sleeping four-year-old Allie and had a wheelchair. I sat down and she gave me Allie to hold while she went to find my luggage. I think she said she had just taken the wheelchair, and I might get in trouble for holding Allie. I was excited when I got home that I got my DVD of The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas, but I don't think I watched it that night.

2006. It seems that I might have been working on a Thanksgiving paper for AP English. It was a late-night writing session, since it was due the next day.

2005. There was a Thanksgiving seminary lesson that day. We made origami turkeys and read a Psalm about thanksgiving.

2003. I think I went to Kmart with my dad because I needed to get tortilla chips for a seminary "extended devotional" (party) the next day. I also wanted some Christmas candy for the Christmas season, so my dad got Christmas Peanut M&Ms. I actually wrote a journal entry that day, stylized with decorative letters:
"Thanksgiving is this week. It will be Thanksgiving vacation, so tomorrow is Friday and today is Thursday. Gee, the week went by quickly. Tomorrow is extended devotional and since I'm on the activities committee, I signed up for devotional. We went to see You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown at the High School on Saturday, and tomorrow we're seeing Annie at Hale Centre Theatre."

 

November 26-30, 2013

Time to think about what went on last Thanksgiving time!

Tuesday, November 26.  My corpus linguistics class was cancelled, but when I went to my Old English class (I entered the building via a different door, since I didn't have class before it), there were only three of us there. Our professor told us that she would note that we were there that day and give us more points than the rest of the class, but she dismissed us. I might have gone to get pumpkin soup for lunch and get some Bookstore pumpkin fudge. Maybe I got the fudge after my writing class; I don't remember. Then I drove home. That night, I asked my mom if she wanted to watch Garfield's  Thansksgiving, but she didn't. That night before I went to bed, I made a Facebook post saying, "If you start your Black Friday shopping on Thanksgiving, you can't be my friend anymore." I had had my smartphone for just over a week at that point, so I didn't have all the settings set how I wanted, so after I had gone to bed, my phone vibrated because someone had commented on the post. I think that was what made me figure out how to turn off the vibrating from Facebook, since I didn't want to keep being awakened at night.

Wednesday, November 27. My mom and I went to Costco in the morning, where we bought pumpkin and pecan pies. Then we drove out to West Valley because I wanted to go to Port of Subs so I could get a Pilgrim Griller, a sandwich with turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. My mom liked hers, but they were expensive. Then we went to the Distribution Center, where I wanted to get a Pearl of Great Price manual and a MoTab CD, Sing Choirs of Angels, because I needed a recording of "Away in a Manger" for my hymns playlist. I was going to pay for them, but my mom did. Then we drove to Winegar's to grab a few more things. I wanted to listen to the Mamas and the Papas CD that was in the car, so I skipped to the album's later songs. As "Somebody Groovy" was playing, we saw a girl in another car dancing very energetically, and it seemed to match up with what we were listening to. Then we went home, and my mom took a nap while I updated my hymns playlist. Then I realized that I had two versions of "God of Our Fathers, Whose Almighty Hand"--one with an extra verse, and one with the verses out of order. That afternoon, I went running, and when I was going past the Bountiful golf course, I saw a bunch of wild turkeys. That made me so happy, and I decided that I would cross the street when I turned around so that I could see the turkeys better, but when I went back past them, the turkeys were all gone, even though they were close to my turning-around point. That night I turned on my Thanksgiving playlist while I helped clean. Allie and I helped peel apples for my mom to make apple pie. Eventually, she said we had peeled enough, so we could eat the apple that was peeled but not used. I was surprised when Allie immediately took the apple and took a bite out of it. I was going to cut it up to share.

Thursday, November 28. In the morning, my family had turned on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. One of the performers was Lady Antebellum, and they were singing songs from their Christmas album. Allie said, "Do you like her?" Later we had to go to my grandparents' house to pick up chairs. The 99.5 radio station seemed to only play commercials. I switched to 98.7, which was just talk, and the guy was talking about children's bodily functions. My mom told me I had struck out twice. Then I switched to 97.9, and Lady Gaga's "Applause" came on; my mom asked me who it was. A repairman came to take out our old, obsolete swamp cooler. While he was here, he agreed to do something else--maybe patch up the hole? I think he had been late. After he left, my dad asked me to help him turn the light fixture in the bathroom upside down, because it was too dark in the bathroom with the present configuration. He dropped one of the screws, and it landed in the sink, but fortunately I grabbed it before it went down the drain. My dad said he was glad I was there. Then I went running, and when I was near the Bountiful golf course, a kid, probably about 10, said, "Happy Thanksgiving!" I was a little disappointed not to see more turkeys, as it was Thanksgiving Day, but when I got home I made a Facebook post about seeing them the previous day. In the late afternoon, relatives started coming. When 2-year-old "Wallace"/Nathan came in, he called the Pilgrims on our front step "Grandma and Grandpa." Peter said, "Those are Pilgrims, not Grandma and Grandpa." They told me that Wallace knew the "This Is Halloween" song, so at one point he was lying on the floor, playing on an iPad, singing the song. I lay down on the floor to hear him, and as soon as I did, he got up and left, which Peter found funny. I think at one point he was "playing" the piano and singing "This Is Halloween." Peter was telling me that he had the Duck Dynasty Christmas album, and he told me I should listen to it to see if I thought it was so bad it was entertaining, or whether it was just bad, because he knew it was bad. Jesse and Lisa came, and Jesse told me how dismayed they were that his in-laws had their Christmas tree up and the kids there were watching a Christmas movie. The turkeys weren't quite done when we were ready to start, so we starting eating without turkey. Wallace ate my last candy corn sucker, and at one point he put his sucker down on Quin's shoulder--Quin was simultaneously amused and annoyed. (Later that evening, he asked where I had gotten the suckers, and when I told him Macey's, he said he wanted to go there.) After dinner, I was telling Susanne how much I liked the Buzzfeed article she had shared with all the GIFs. Susanne was showing them to my dad, and he was really laughing, even though he hardly ever laughs. Renee was looking and laughing as well. At one point I showed Susanne my roast turkey socks, and April was trying to get her attention and said something about "talking to your brother." After people had left, my mom and Susanne were saying that Renee was high on something. I turned on my Thanksgiving music while I did dishes, and my mom sat in the living room and sometimes sang along. She felt bad for not helping, but she had done a lot of work that day, and I was fine washing them. Then I went to bed.

Friday, November 29. I think that in the morning I started playing some of my new Christmas CDs. I loved the songs on the Lower Lights' latest album. That afternoon, we went to meet my aunt Sue and some of her family to go see Tangled, which was new in the theaters. When we got in the car, I put in the new Kelly Clarkson Christmas album. We were on the freeway when "Run Run Rudolph" came on, and my mom said it wasn't very Christmassy. Nan said she liked it, then asked who it was. When we were at the theater, waiting to go in, Wallace was identifying the animals on the display for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. We got in the theater early, as the previous showing was ending. I was looking at things on my phone, and my dad told me I needed to watch the credits so that I wouldn't watch them after the movie. We got to see the giant snow monster put Elsa's crown on after the credits. I was looking at pictures on Awkward Family Photos, and I was amused by another ugly Easter bunny picture. Throughout the movie, other viewers were laughing and overly enthusiastic; they clapped at the end. After the movie I went to the restroom, and Wallace asked where I had gone. Sue was telling my mom that one of the voices in the movie was Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but Nicole corrected her. Then we drove to my grandparents' for some reason. On our way there, we were having a conversation about American Idol winners--Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood have been the most successful, but sometimes you hear about Daughtry, and Phillip Phillips has had decent success. I was confused with Kelly's singing "Just one cigarette more" in "Baby It's Cold Outside," since I thought she was strongly anti-smoking. I wanted to go to Target because one of the ads the previous day advertised walrus lounge pants, which of course I had to have. On our way to Target, we went to Home Depot. While my parents were looking at boring things, Susanne and Allie and I looked in the Christmas stuff. I found a blue-dyed poinsettia, which I thought was awesome, so I got it. When we got to Target, I was talking about what I should do with my poinsettia once Christmas was over. My mom said I should throw it away, as it's hard to get them to bloom again; I said I could give it to the office where I worked. We looked for the walrus pants and couldn't find them, but Nan found walrus socks. My mom was going to ask at the clothes help desk, and she discovered there was a cart near the desk with some walrus pants in it, but there was no tag. They told us we could buy them. We looked through the Christmas stuff and got some teal and pink ornaments for my new pink tree. I also got some Christmas-shaped Goldfish and Wheat Thins, and I might have got some Christmas Tic-Tacs. My mom got mint chocolate and peppermint white chocolate M&Ms. At some point on our outings that night, a car was driving down the road with their headlights off. I said, "I hope they crash into a pole." My mom and Susanne said, "You would say that just for not turning on their headlights?" and I said, "That's why I just said a pole." (I now agree that was too harsh.) I think that night I watched the Addams Family Christmas episode, and I think I also watched a Beverly Hillbillies episode. My mom watched with me (and encouraged me to watch more), as she was working on something in the room.

Saturday, November 30. At our house, Susanne said we should hide the M&Ms so Allie wouldn't eat more. She was dismayed and said she wouldn't eat more. I asked her why, then, she would be unhappy with them being hidden, if she wasn't going to have any more. I helped put lights on our tree. Then I drove back to Provo. I showed my roommate Scott my blue poinsettia, and I said if we had red and white poinsettias, it would make Fourth of July poinsettias. He said you couldn't mix holidays like that. I started some laundry, and Scott asked me why I didn't do my laundry when I was at home. I think I told him that I had done some of it. He went out and got a live Christmas tree and set it up with a friend while listening to Christmas music, including Debra Fotheringham's "With Wondering Awe." I think he popped popcorn and had a friend string it. I had things I had to do--maybe homework. I listened to samples of the Duck Dynasty Christmas album and texted Peter to tell him I thought it was entertainingly bad. He asked if I was going to add it to my playlist; I said no because I didn't watch Duck Dynasty. I think I was listening to my own Christmas music. This was back when Scott was still a decent person and would talk to us.

Two days after Thanksgiving

Last week I wrote about two days before Thanksgiving, so this week I'm writing about two days after the holiday.

2012. I watched the holiday episode of The Munsters at home. I think I was listening to my music, and "Alejandro" finally played itself. I think I added a bunch of Christmas music to my computer. I switched to the green Taurus to take back to Provo, and I listened to the all-Christmas 98.7 radio station on the way. I was pleased with their selection of Christmas music, not all the same old stuff. They played Lady Antebellum and even Cherie Call. When I got into Provo, I stopped at Fresh Market to go grocery shopping. I saw that they had dragon fruit, so I bought one. (It wasn't very good.) I think I bought snowflake Ritz crackers (and later realized the "snowflakes" have eight points instead of six--I don't plan on buying those again). I pulled into my parking lot to unload my car, but then I had to go park on the street because the green car didn't have a parking permit. When I got back in the car, the radio was playing a Michael Bublé interview.

2011. We had to work early that morning. That might have been the day we expected there to be treats, but there weren't any. My blog tells me that I had an unsuccessful run that afternoon. That night I had to write my talk for the next day.

2010. That morning I went with my parents to the temple. As we went there, we listened to my new Wonder of Christmas MoTab CD. Later, I picked up my friend David Christensen to go running up on Bountiful Boulevard. I was wearing blue pants, and David came out in red pants, which he had borrowed from his brother, since it was the day of the BYU/Utah football game, back when it was still in November. I ran farther than he did, and when I turned around I caught up with him. He pointed out the Charlie Brown nativity scene at one house, which I thought was ugly. Later, I went with my parents out to Centerville. We had to pick up missionary plaques. My parents were listening to the game and were quite displeased with it, while I was just sitting in the back eating sugar-coated almonds from my brother-in-law Matt. We went to Walmart, and I wanted to get the special edition of the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack, so I got a tin that had three Peanuts-themed CDs in it. On the way home, I put in the 40 Years: A Charlie Brown Christmas CD, and I loved David Benoit's version of "Christmas Is Coming," but I was unimpressed with the rest.

2009. It was my last full day of proselyting. We did a lot of tracting. At one house, the people's last name was Cook, and Elder Tamblyn asked if they were related to Cooks in Moses Lake. I thought it was a stretch, since it was a common name. One guy later in the afternoon was nice and knew some members, the Biglers. Elder Tamblyn periodically needed to rest. At one point we stopped the car so he could make some calls. We were listening to the new Ring Christmas Bells MoTab CD, and he changed the CD because he thought it was ridiculous they were making animal noises. We had dinner with the Christensens, and they had invited a nonmember friend. I can't remember what kind of lesson we gave, but Brother Christensen began talking about Adam and Eve. After dinner, I wanted to stop by an apartment where a less-active named Rebecca Dyer had lived. We knocked on the door, and someone called out asking who it was. We told her, and she said, "No thanks." But I was wanting to ask about someone, so I yelled through the door, asking about the girl who had lived there previously. There was no answer. I was so annoyed that they would ignore our questions and judge our intentions, so I pulled out a pass-along card and wrote a note on it, saying we weren't trying to bother them but were wondering about the Rebecca Dyer. Then we went home.

2008. I believe that we had lunch at the home of some friendly Baptists (maybe they were Pentecostals or non-denominationals).

2007. I would have worked on my farewell talk, although I don't specifically remember doing so. I think I decorated a tree downstairs while watching Christmas episodes of my old TV shows, since I wouldn't be able to watch them for two years.

2005. We went to Target, and I got a dollar DVD of The Beverly Hillbillies that had a Thanksgiving episode on it. That night we watched The Polar Express, since my mom's friend had lent it to us, and we all thought it was dumb.

2002. My sister was listening to the radio, and they played a silly turkey song. The DJ said they'd never play it again that year. I remember turning on my Charlie Brown Christmas CD while putting up decorations.

1998. My friend David called me to see if I could help him work on his Reflections submission. When they picked me up, David said to his mom, "Mark's good and has all his Christmas decorations up." For the contest, they were photographing kids doing adult jobs. We went to the library, and they had me stand behind the counter and pretend  to scan books (the librarian had given us permission to do so). We saw a float from the Bountiful Light Parade.

Two days before Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is next week! I'm going to remember the things I have done two days before the holiday--namely, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

2012. I met with my editing group in my editing class. Some students were mad that we students had to be there but the professor didn't. After that meeting, I went over to the Cougareat and bought some pumpkin soup. I considered getting a donut with Thanksgiving sprinkles, but I decided against it. Then I got ready to go home. I had offered a ride to a girl in my ward, Larissa, so I went over and helped her put her stuff in my car. She ate leftover pizza while I drove. I went on Center Street to get on the freeway and had problems with lanes ending. Larissa and I talked about classes we were taking that semester and the next, and Larissa said she was taking a family history class for fun. My GPS got me off the freeway in the right place, but I kept getting lost when I took her to her aunt's house. I helped her get her stuff out. Then I drove home, turning on some Thanksgiving songs on my Peanuts CD. I was so happy to be home and share all my Thanksgiving candy.

2010. The news had been telling us all about a great blizzard that would be coming that day. When I got up in the morning, it was extremely windy and bitter cold. I went outside to try to pick up our trash can and the garbage that fell out of it, and I got super cold in just a short time--I remember talking to the guys across the street about how crazy it was. Then I went and got a haircut. I remember saying that I was worried about driving home from work in the snow. After the haircut, I went to Winegar's and got some apple cider to spice. I came home and put my spiced cider on. I was preparing for work when one of my leads, Dave, called and told me that they were sending people home and telling us not to come in. So I got to stay home. My mom and dad later came home and I told them how I had lucked out by not having to go in. I remember watching the storm come in; the clouds were really ominous. It was a good snowstorm, but it wasn't as blizzardy as they had predicted (and as I had expected, with how cold and windy it was that morning). I could only get blurry pictures.

2009. I was on exchanges with Elder Hansen in Pullman. We bundled up that morning--it was freezing, certainly not what I was used to in Lewiston. There was snow all over.

We went around various places that day. For lunch we stopped at Jack in the Box and I got a pumpkin shake with my meal. Later, we were near an apartment complex when Elder Hansen got a call from an Asian girl named Penny. He was telling her how he tries to be Christlike, and I heard her say, "You look like Christ!" We both silently laughed, and after the phone call, I said, "Did she say, 'You look like Christ'?" He told me how she had pasted his face onto the picture of Jesus looking down and holding the lamb that is on the Restoration pamphlet. He said she had made a cartoon drawing with Elder Keddington saying her only options were to get baptized. After the phone call we got out of the car and went to knock some doors, but I don't think anyone answered. Most of the snow had melted at this point. Then we stopped at another apartment complex, where there were signs telling the residents to keep their heaters on for Thanksgiving. We went and had dinner with a married couple. Elder Hansen told them how we had come out at the same time, and they might have known that we were going home in less than a week. I remember thinking that those members must have been thinking that I didn't act like I'd been out that long. Eventually we went back to Lewiston. When we got to our apartment, I said to Elder Hansen, "You look like Christ." Elder Keddington said, "Did you guys see Penny?" Elder Hansen explained that she had called him. Elder Keddington then told us the story how she showed them a PowerPoint with the picture of Jesus and said, "Who is this?" They said, "Jesus...?" She said, "No, who is it really?" and then came the mashup of Elder Hansen on Jesus. The night before, we had coined the term "ferociolicious," and Elder Keddington wrote the word on the picture I had drawn on the whiteboard of various scary things happening to Elder LaPratt, but he spelled it "Froiouslious."

2008. Elder Love called a less-active who lived way out in the boonies to see if we could come visit him. He reluctantly accepted. We drove out to really rural places. We went to a place that was a little gully in the middle of wheat fields where there were some houses. We were amazed at the frost at that location.

 We had a potential investigator to check on in that neighborhood, but I think I convinced us not to. (We should have, though, since we rarely went out that way. I think we didn't because it was getting dark and we didn't know where to park and just plain fear.) We checked on a less active someplace, not knowing what to expect, but she was very nice and let us in. She actually told us she went to the Medical Lake ward instead of the Davenport Branch because she didn't feel welcome in Davenport. She told us that her neighbors would probably be mean to us. Then we drove off to our appointment. He was the son of a member in a nursing home. He was nice, and we visited him and his sister. While we were there, I could hear someone watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving in the other room. When we left and went to our car, it was snowing lightly. The man came out and told us that he had been reluctant to have us there because his sister had lost her testimony--but she had been courteous to us as well. We were driving when we encountered a sign that said, "Water over roadway." We were out in the middle of nowhere. We got out and examined the water on the roadway, and this place looked just like a place I had seen in a dream in the MTC, in which my aunt's van got stuck on a muddy road. We were debating whether or not to drive through the river.

Elder Love worried that the ice in the stream might do some damage, so we turned around and went another way. In our travelings, we were amused by this sign. (We were in farm country, after all.)

2007. Susanne took me to get a splint for my sprained ankle. I think we stopped at Arctic Circle, and while we were there, I saw a bread truck fueling up at the gas station next door. Apparently the driver forgot to put it in park, because suddenly the truck went forward and the driver was running alongside it. It didn't stop until it went over the curb and hit the gas station sign. I might have watched The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas that night (since I had just gotten the DVD), but I can't remember if it was that night or the next.

2005. I can remember sitting in my biology class, wearing a yellow polo shirt with a red tie.

2004.  I probably had some apple pie ice cream. I remember studying my chemistry flashcards and finishing all the homework I meant to, which might have been the only time I did so in all of high school. I might have watched the Thanksgiving episode of Bewitched.

2003. I gave the devotional in seminary, although I can't remember what it was. I was wearing my yellow shirt. That night, I went with my parents to Hale Center Theater to see Annie. My mom pointed out a man wearing a toupee. My dad said at least it was better than Annie's, but my mom and I thought he said "better than Allie's," since baby Allie had some hair problems. When we got home, I ate chips and salsa and cheese.

1999. During lunchtime they always showed videos, and on this day they were showing A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, which I had never seen before. I especially found the cooking scene amusing. There was a display of harvest vegetables, and they were giving them away, so I took some small pumpkins. That night my mom went to Toys R Us and bought VHS tapes of The Iron Giant and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. The Iron Giant came with a toy, and I tried to get it out but ended up destroying the plastic on the clamshell case. My friend David Christensen came over for a sleepover, and I think we watched both of those movies.

1996. We were having a Thanksgiving meal in the classroom. We all had paper Pilgrim and Indian hats and headbands and put our desks together like giant tables. The hot lunch people went and got their Thanksgiving meals from the cafeteria, while we paper sack people stayed and started eating. That afternoon we played some kind of game (maybe Bingo) with Reese's Pieces. Miss Slater said she picked that candy because of their fall colors.