Thanksgiving Kids Table Idea: Total Failure
We headed to Tootsie and Poppie’s for thanksgiving this year (post from last year here). Normally I find thanksgiving a bit depressing with the guilt of gorging and 4:30 sunsets and the looming shadow of winter but this year was quite enjoyable despite the non-stop kid chaos. I would estimate that about 50% of my contentedness was due to the 1977 Port that Poppi opened after the kids went to bed which really hit the spot. I would attribute another 20% to Maura’s having made her perfected pigs in a blanket. 1977 is supposed to be “The Year” for Ports in the latter half of the 20th century and this one certainly fit the bill. Dinner was excellent except for the complete breakdown of the kids table concept. It just dissolved because nobody wanted to be the last one sitting. In the end, Momo parked them in front of some cartoon about tigers during which she noted that the baseball coach tiger was the only one not wearing pants and I fed them a plate of turkey and fixings which they scarfed down in anticipation of the ice cream cake. Larry of the Kosses brought five bottles of wine from a common grape, brown bagged them and had everybody rank them. I only had wine #1 and #5 and I never actually heard which was the winner although when he unbagged wine #1 it was apparently a well known vintner. I also like that anyone was of the belief that the order is unimportant when you are drinking all the wines. If I had been asked to organize this I would have brought five bags of the same wine. “This one is more tannic” – grin on face. After dinner I played hide and go seek with Ellie and the Boffa girls until she melted and then had Port while Tootsie put Phoebe to bed and then I went home. The ladies stayed for a sleepover. The most interesting fact of the day is that after recording the Pat’s game and knowing the final score (a blowout), Poppi still sat and watched the game. Now, in fast forward a football game is actually quite short but this is still completely amazing to me. Without a doubt, a true fan is a person that cannot stand not to know the score and then must watch the game anyway. That would not be me.
Above: The only video I shot outside where Cristin was not ruining the audio by insulting people who might eventually listen to it. Below: Poppi sees if Ellie is interested in table dancing. 
Above: Vino de Koss. Below, the ladies belt on tunes on the Howley piano which does not seemed to be tuned in equal temperament. I think it is actually a late baroque tuning known as utter dissonance. 
Above: It is impossible nowadays to get a photo of L-train without food in her mouth. Below: The only time there was harmony at the kids table was when the ice cream cake was brought out.
