Different and same

After lunch, JG and I will hit the road for Thanksgiving travels. This year, some things are going to be different, and some things will be the same.

Different: For the first time since I’ve been a part of the in-law Thanksgiving, we won’t be at Mimi’s house. She downsized sensibly into a smaller townhouse, so we’re all landing at JG’s parents’ lake house in an initial attempt at transition. No one is talking about a time when Mimi won’t be around. Let us not talk of that.

Same: Not to be held back by a new location, Mimi is still doing all of the cooking. My MIL briefly attempted to re-assign food items, but that proved to be a lost cause.

Different: JG’s immediate family is the only one staying overnight, changing our usual 2-day tournament of eating, football-watching, and game-playing into one (relatively short) day.

Same: I will be completely shocked if we don’t manage to do all of the above, time limit notwithstanding. We are bringing a new game to share, and people will lose no opportunity to discuss the latest in the college football scene. In keeping with tradition, I will be reading as I keep an ear out for games of Speed Scrabble or Catch Phrase.

Different: Since we won’t be at Mimi’s house, the traditional one-club golf tournament will not take place, along with the requisite smack-talking.

Same: The community where the lake house is situated has a golf course, and JG and his dad will go out the day after Thanksgiving if the weather holds up. As for the smack-talk, this is the first year that the family is competing in a fantasy football league, so there will be no shortage there.

Different: At Mimi’s house, in order to join hands before the Thanksgiving meal, we would form a circle in the kitchen around a giant load-bearing column, and someone would gripe good-naturedly that we couldn’t all see each other. There will be no column this year.

Same: We’ll still join hands and share what we’re thankful for, one by one. Even though I will have practiced mine ahead of time, I will be nervous when my turn comes, and JG will squeeze my hand after I’ve said my piece. As circumstances change and the faces at our Thanksgiving table aren’t always the same from year to year, we’ll still go around and say how we’re thankful. That’s not changing any time soon.