Thanksgiving

Due to my arrival here just a few weeks ago, it was decided back in October that I would not be returning home for Thanksgiving. This is actually not my first Thanksgiving away from home; a few years ago I had spent the holiday in Bells, Texas with some great friends. That said, distance from family is always hardest around the holidays.

With that I mind, I had a small Thanksgiving-esque dinner with my parents the weekend before I left. This was quite fantastic, as it meant leftovers and pumpkin pie for days afterwards. Then, on Tuesday of this past week, we had a pot-luck at work, where each department was responsible for a different portion of the menu. For instance, my department was responsible for potatoes, so we had glazed sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, garlic potatoes, sweet potato casserole, sweet potato hummus, etc (my contribution was roasted potatoes with sage, bacon, and red onion). There was a huge assortment of traditional and creative dishes, and everything was delicious. Plus, we had the next (half) day to investigate the kitchens of each building for leftovers. We also left work early on Tuesday due to the blizzard alert.

Wednesday ended up being a short workday, as the snowstorm had caused a number of people to work from home. We came in around 10am and then ended up leaving early as well, with a lot of people telecommuting. A few of my Park City friends and I (all the Salt Lake people had telecommuted) went for tea, and had a relaxing start to the holiday break.

For the actual Thanksgiving day, I went out for brunch with friends. It was a really lazy morning for me, as I place we ate at was a 5 minute walk from my house, on Main Street. We then went to someone’s house, where we played cards and watched movies for the next five hours.

Our department was also given Friday off, and I debated braving Black Friday at the outlet mall, but when I saw the swarms of people and the backed up buses, I decided I was not so brave. Instead, I opted to get some work done in a coffee shop (I can’t remember if I mentioned this, but I don’t have internet yet in my apartment, so I do all emails and article research in cafes- needless to say I haven’t been able to write many articles lately). Then I joined friends to see Morning Glory, which was exactly the kind of light-hearted humor I was in the mood for on this holiday weekend.

Overall, it was a very nice holiday. As hard as it was not being with family, it’s nice to know that even when you can’t go home, there is good company to be found. That said, I’m looking forward to my home visit around Christmas. The travel bit will actually be a little crazy, involving a red-eye flight, subway, train and car, all to be home for 1.5 days, flying back on Boxing Day, but if I’m really honest, I’ve done crazier.

As much as I’ve enjoyed this long weekend, I’m also looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. Some time this week, it will be announce which films will be in the festival (the filmmakers know as of last week, and the press office knows, but the rest of us are currently in the dark). Once that announcement is made, the buzz and excitement starts to build. We shall see, I’ll keep you posted.