We had two dinners yesterday, one with Jimi's family and one with mine, but I only ate at the first.  I drank wine when we got to Momma's.  :)  And then vodka when we got home.  I'm pretty sure last night's depressing post about Granny was alcohol-induced melancholy.  My bad.

We're hosting a meal for our BFFs tomorrow - a brined and smoked turkey, my Momma's cornbread dressing, roasted potatoes, fresh green beans, cranberry-orange gelatin, pumpkin and pecan pies, Hawaiian rolls.  I love having people over.  I love having a house full of good smells and laughter and happiness and our favorite people.  I'm not crazy about the clean-up before/after any gathering, but that's why God made dishwashers and boyfriends, right?

I missed Brother yesterday.  I kept thinking about him, wondering what he'd had to eat, knowing he wasn't having seconds or thirds or watching The Godfather with Daddy or playing LRC with Momma and Pam and Sheila and the kids.  Kristin asked about him a few times.  Momma told Sheila the truth about where he was spending his holiday.  She found out that if he's not able to get shock probation next month, he's not eligible for parole until April 2011.  Mom handled it well not having her baby home on Thanksgiving; I don't think she'd manage Christmas quite as easily, certainly not without tears.  I'm torn between wanting him to come home (for Momma, for his comfort) and wanting them to make sure to keep him long enough to convince him that he never wants to go back there again.  I don't want anything bad to happen to him, but I want it to sink in with him that the shit he's been doing is no way to live, and that prison or death are very real options if he doesn't make some serious changes in his life.

Meanwhile, Jimi's preparing the brine, Jason's on his way over, I'm doing laundry.  Life goes on.

Jimi and I shopped earlier; Kroger was the only plan, and it was easy.  Black Friday apparently doesn't apply to grocery stores.  Well, at least not at noon.  As we were loading our foods into the trunk, Jimi said we needed to go to Wal-Mart so he could get some hardwood for the smoker tomorrow.  Wal-Mart, he said.  On Black Friday.  Of course, my reaction was O FUCK NO.  But we went anyhow, and it wasn't really bad, either.  There were not-too-far parking spaces, and the aisles weren't as full as I'd expected.  It wasn't as bad as a typical shopping trip there on a Saturday afternoon, in fact.  The huge gaylord boxes full of holiday special sale items created more of a traffic hassle than the shoppers.  I was surprised and pleased.

I was chatting with my internet British friend, and he was bitching about all the hullabaloo surrounding the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.  Apparently it's all royal wedding all the time on his side of the pond and he's sick of it.  Guess he wouldn't be interested in knowing that my parents also married on April 29th, eh?  :)

Happy Weekend!