Title: Happy Thanksgiving
Esme was excited for this years Thanksgiving. This would be the first Thanksgiving that she would get to actually cook since she was a vampire. Before this point, her family had no need for Thanksgiving, they would joke around and find a group of wild turkeys to drink but that was the closest to gravy and cranberries she could get. It hurt her to think that even if she did make a whole Thanksgiving meal, it would just go to waist.
But not this year! Oh no, she had eight coming over! That's right, eight. And that didn't count her family. There were seven werewolves and Nessie. Esme was so excited, now that it was a week before Thanksgiving she knew she had to go out and buy everything.
Esme's first stop was the party store. Normally Alice would decorate for any festivity but Alice never saw the reason for Thanksgiving. She didn't remember it as a human and as a vampire, she couldn't partake in it. So the meaning of decorations on that day meant nothing to her.
Esme didn't mind though, she happily walked into the store grabbing a cart to stack up on everything she needed. She smiled at the cashier who looked rather bored. "Can you point me to the Thanksgiving decorations?" Esme asked politely.
"Aisle five. The brown, orange and yellow aisle with the huge turkeys." The girl said.
"Oh, that's right those are the primary colors for that day." Esme smiled walking off, not allowing the girl to answer back.
Esme walked down the aisle as she picked up two of each colored table clothe, twenty different streamers. Some had turkeys, candy corn, cornucopias, and other marvelous designs strewn within. Esme then found a cornucopia on the shelf she looked at it, remembering how her family always had one set in the middle of the table for Thanksgiving. She picked it up, figuring it would make a great middle for this time too. She found a turkey sign that read, "Eat Beef but Not Here." Esme laughed at the rather funny sign as she picked it up deciding to put it at her mailbox. Even if everyone knew where her house was, she figured it would be fun anyways.
Then there was balloons. She couldn't decide between the turkey leg balloon, the leaf balloon or the pack of twenty assorted colors. Esme shrugged as she put all three packs into her cart. As Alice had said, what's a party without balloons?
They still had plenty of helium from when they had Bella's birthday party when she was eighteen. It was a wonder they still had that.
She looked at everything in her cart. She already had the plates for the night so she was all set. Her phone rang; it was Jacob's number.
"Hello Jacob. Did you want me to pick something up?" She asked.
"Uhm no, I was wondering if you would mind two more people for Thanksgiving?"
"Who's that?"
"Sam and Emily decided to come."
"That's wonderful! I would love to cook for ten people! Tell them that if they have anyone else to invite, to do so. I won't mind." Esme said excitedly. "I will pick up another table at the furniture store so that everyone can sit comfortably. I have Emmett picking up five ovens from the rent-to-own-store this weekend."
"Esme you don't need to cook that much."
"Nonsense, your friends eat a lot. The more the merrier." Esme smiled as she hung up the phone. This was really exciting. She went back and picked up another table cloth just in case. She knew she was going overboard but the chance to cook such a marvelous dinner made her want to buy out the store if she could.
Esme went up to the register as she put everything up and the girl scanned it through. Esme noticed the girl's nametag and decided to have a conversation with the girl named Lynda, "Hi Lynda, you have plans for Thanksgiving?"
"Sadly no, my biggest plan is to cook a turkey leg in the oven and sit down and eat it with my roommate."
"Where's your family?"
"Six hours from here, I'm in college right now and my roommate broke her leg so she can't do much. I'm helping her out instead of going home. Not to mention that my roommate doesn't have the money to go see her own family. That will be a hundred forty two dollars and twenty three cents."
Esme had just swiped her card through as she signed the pin pad. "You know what! Why don't you two come to my house? I'm having a huge gathering and I would love to have more people there."
"I can't do that, I would intrude on your family and friends."
"You won't intrude, in fact more than half that are going to be there were once people I despised." Esme chuckled. "That old saying is true, don't judge a book by it's cover."
The girl laughed, "I would like to but really I couldn't do that to you."
"Nonsense. The more the merrier." Esme wrote down her address on her receipt handing it back to the girl, "come on over."
"Thank you." The girl said as she put the receipt into her pocket.
Twelve people were coming now.
Esme walked out of the store with all of her bags as she put them in the trunk. She then saw the furniture store across the street, remembering that she had to get a new table, she walked over to the store. She was about to walk inside when she noticed a homeless looking man sitting against the store. "Please ma'am can you spare some change?" The man asked.
Esme's heart broke, Carlisle always frowned when she gave them money. Not because she was doing the wrong thing but because many times he would find homeless people in his emergency clinic, drunk, the same nights Esme would happen to give out a hundred dollars to someone on the streets. It was rare that it didn't happen. Instead they would give a huge amount of money to the soup kitchens in their areas so that they knew the money would go toward food for the homeless.
"I can bring you to get some food." Esme said to him. Carlisle didn't mind if she used her money for food but it was when she gave money out, not knowing what they would do with it that he cared about.
"Really?" The man asked excitedly.
"Sure, is there a restaurant around here?" she asked.
"There's a McDonalds right down the street. They are cheep." He said.
"Uhm, any other restaurants?" Esme had never really liked the fast foods for humans.
"The ritzy Italian place." The man said looking down at the ground as if he knew getting lunch was too good to be true.
"That sounds good." Esme said.
"Really?" The man stood up. "You would take me there."
"Of course." Esme walked with the man to the Italian place as they sat down. Everyone stared at the man as he sat with her at their table. Esme had to pay the restaurant manager off just to let the man into the place. Unfortunately, he did smell pretty bad. They were given a menu as the man started to look at it. "Get whatever you want." She said to him.
Esme took a menu too, staring at it. She was going to give the man a gift card here but even a two hundred dollar gift card would barely cover but four meals here. The waiter came over to take their order. The homeless man had given his order, as Esme didn't pay attention. "And for you?" The waiter asked.
"Nothing for me. I will be right back. I just have to do something." Esme smiled at the waiter. She had already paid the restaurant enough to pay for one and a half meals here so they didn't have to worry about her skimping out on the check.
The waiter nodded and walked off. Esme smiled at the homeless man. "I will have to leave the store for a second." She said getting up and running out.
She ran down the street until she stopped at a McDonalds, she hated these fast food places but for the price, she knew this was a better deal.
Esme went inside grabbing a card, "Hello, welcome to McDonalds may I take your order?" the woman asked.
"Hello, may I have two hundred on this gift card?" Esme asked.
"Two hundred?" The woman asked, shocked.
"Yes that's right, two hundred." Esme started humming as she waited for the girl to go get her manager so that she could ring out such a large gift card.
With her supersensitive hearing she heard a small girl pleading with her mom to take her to McDonalds as they passed by. "No honey, we don't have the money for that and to have Thanksgiving dinner."
"But I'm hungry." The girl whined.
"Me too but you are going to have to wait until we get home. I told you it would be tough." Esme ran outside quickly so that she could grab the people.
"Hello." Esme said.
"Uh hi." The mother said, seeming worried.
"Would you mind if I paid for your lunch?" The girl looked excited to hear Esme say that.
"No thank you ma'am, we are fine." The mother said.
"It will be fine, come on in." Esme said.
"Please mommy."
"Fine." The woman gave in as the two walked in with her.
"I swear there was a woman here who had wanted a two hundred dollar gift card." The cashier was talking to the manager.
"Hi." Esme said.
"Thank God, I wasn't going crazy." The cashier said.
Esme smiled, "Yes, I want a two hundred dollar gift card and whatever these two want."
The woman picked up her small girl, "Can we have a cheeseburger happy meal and a number 1?"
"Sure." The cashier put it in.
They went to get the food together as the three stood around.
"Can I go play on the play place?" the girl asked.
"Sure sweety." The mom put her down as the girl ran off.
"What happened to your eye?" Esme asked the woman.
"I fell down the stairs the other day."
Esme looked at the woman, "No, I know the truth. I went through the same thing. He hurts you doesn't he?" She asked. She knew the signs, every one of them.
The woman looked shocked to hear that.
"I went through it too. Please leave him, if you don't then he may end up killing you or your little girl."
"I know, I'm saving money now but I can only save so much at a time without him noticing. We were supposed to go out to eat today for lunch but instead I put the money in a separate account, I have to do that until I get enough."
"If you are serious about leaving come over to my house for Thanksgiving. I will give you the money and everything then for you to get away. Come with whatever you want to keep. You won't be allowed to go back to your house again." Esme said. She grabbed her receipt from McDonalds- writing her address on it. "Please do it for the little one."
"Alright." The woman said with tears in her eyes.
The employees came back with the food and gift card. "I have to go now, see you later." Esme ran out the door with her gift card.
That was now fourteen people. This was going to be fun!
Esme made it back to the homeless man in time to watch him finish up his meal. She easily paid for the bill which came up too fourty two dollars and sixty-five cents. "Here you are, a gift card to McDonalds so that you can get food any time." Esme said to the man.
"Thank you so much ma'am. You don't realize how much this means to me!" He had tears in his eyes.
"Always happy to help someone out."
"I don't know how to thank you."
"Come over to my house on Thanksgiving." Esme said as she grabbed a napkin and wrote down her address. "Invite all the friends you want, the more the merrier. I have no problem if you and your friends want to use my bathroom as well." She smiled at him as she hand the napkin to him. "What's your name by the way?"
"I'm Jasper."
Esme started to laugh, "My son's name is Jasper. That means you have to come over!" The two left the restaurant and departed after their good byes.
Fifteen people were now attending.
Esme went into the furniture store as she looked at all of the tables.
"Hello, may I help you?"
"Hi, I'm looking for five of your biggest tables."
"We have two big tables. One can seat up to sixteen people and the other can seat twenty."
"I have a lot of people coming over so I will take one of each." Esme said.
"Very good ma'am." The man said as he walked her to the catalog. "What color?"
"My whole house is chestnut."
"Dark or light?"
"Dark. It's so much easier to clean."
"Yes it is." The man agreed.
"Can you show them to me?"
"I'm sorry, they are too big for the store. I can show you a picture but I can't let you actually touch them here. I assure you though, if you aren't satisfied you can return it." The man opened a catalog as he skimmed through it, "These are the two."
Esme looked at it carefully, "Now can it hold up to an elephant standing on the table?" Esme asked. "I normally like to see the tables but I know if they can hand up to a one ton elephant then it can hold up to my children."
"I assure you that a five year old couldn't mess this up." The man said laughing, it was obvious that he thought Esme was joking.
"I'm serious. I came home one time to an elephant in my house. One of my sons decided to try to start a circus. That table was gone when he tried to get the elephant to stand on it." Esme said casually.
The man stared at her, "Seriously?"
"Oh yes, Emmett is always getting into trouble. He's very smart but sometimes he uses his smarts for the wrong thing."
"I know what you mean. I have a brother that is like that."
"Another time, I came home to two of my children wrestling in the living room. They had knocked the wall completely in. That was an interesting story to explain to my husband."
"Well Emmett sounds like quite a character."
"If only you knew the half of it. I will take both tables."
"Big party planned?"
"Thanksgiving! I haven't cooked for Thanksgiving in a long time so I'm having a huge party."
"Sounds like fun."
"What are you doing for Thanksgiving?"
"Staying home." The man said. "Nothing huge."
"If you are going to be alone you can come on over. You can meet my children as well!" Esme said.
"I honestly can't come over to a clients house."
"Nonsense. The more the merrier, invite anyone you know that's lonely."
"Alright, thank you." The man said as he hand her the receipt.
Esme wrote down her address on the back of it, "There you go. Can you have the tables brought over the day before?"
"Sure can. And thank you."
"I'm Esme by the way."
"I'm Leroy."
"It's nice to meet you Leroy."
Esme left the store as she hummed to herself.
Now sixteen people!
This was going to be a good Thanksgiving.
She then walked into the Grocery store, pulling out her huge list. The list was at least three feet long as she looked at it. She wrote everything that was known for a thanksgiving dinner.
First on the list, Cranberry sauce.
Esme walked down an aisle as she looked at all the cans. She finally spotted them as she tried to calculate how many people she would have. Sixteen and if she invited ten more people and each can fed four people then she would need six and a half cans. She started to put them in then decided to put ten more cans in. You never know who might like cranberry sauce.
Next, Turkey. That was easy, the family had gone on their turkey hunt that they do every year so that they could feel somewhat like they were celebrating Thanksgiving. This time instead of leaving the bodies, Esme got them prepared and stuck the fifteen turkeys in the freezer.
After that, Pies.
What kind of pie? She thought about fall pies and decided on Pecan, Pumpkin, Chocolate Cream, and Cherry. She went along grabbing plenty of ingredients to make at least twenty pies all together.
Gravy, she could make that from the broth of the turkey. This was easy, why did so many people hate grocery shopping for Thanksgiving?
Vegetables, Esme walked down the vegetable aisle. She started to grab three of each cans of vegetables. Fifty-one cans all together.
She then bumped carts with another woman who had a small chicken, a can of cranberry sauce, and six kids in her cart, not including the seventh one on her back.
"I'm sorry." Esme said, "I will watch where I'm going next time." She told the woman.
"No I'm sorry, I was busy thinking of what else to get."
"For Thanksgiving?" Esme asked.
"Yeah."
"Pies are always nice. I'm making several."
The woman laughed, "I gotta keep it small. I don't have much money right now."
"Come over to my house. I will have plenty, I can even give you some left overs."
"No, it's no problem. I will be fine."
"No such thing! Come on over!" Esme said. "Thanksgiving is for family and friends. I would love more people. Besides I know how it is with kids, I have seven too."
"They are a handful."
"Oh yes. Come on over, it will be fun." Esme hand her a piece of paper with her address written on it.
"You didn't even have to write it down?"
"I kind of have been inviting a lot of people. The more the merrier!"
"Thank you so much."
"See you then."
Twenty three people were now coming.
Esme went off to finish her shopping. She grabbed other things such as breads, cookies, cakes, and many other thanksgiving goodies.
She went to the register as she put her foods up on the conveyer belt. The cashier was cashing her out when he noticed she had no turkeys. "You don't like turkey?"
"My family kills our own. It's a tradition every year."
"I've never had wild turkey. How is it?"
"Why don't you come over on Thanksgiving and find out?" Esme asked.
"That sounds good." The man said, "I would love to try some."
Esme wrote her address on a piece of paper, "There you go."
After paying for her food she left with the cart filled to the top with groceries for just one night.
Twenty four people going!
She piled the bags in her car. There wasn't enough room in the trunk, she settled for putting the rest on her back seat and more in her passenger seat. Deciding she had enough, she went home with her stuff.
Thanksgiving came before she knew it!
Carlisle walked down stairs to the smell of every food possible. The smells were assaulting his nose as he realized his kids were already gone for the day. He looked out a window to see them outside on the lawn talking. He walked into the kitchen to see his wife hard at work preparing the meals.
"How's the food?"
"It's going really good! I'm about to start the homemade cranberry sauce; the pies are in the oven. The seven turkeys are in the other ovens."
Carlisle stopped her, "How many people are we having over?"
"The wolf pack, Nessie, and a few friends I met when I went shopping the other week. They're really nice."
"Alright, as long as you didn't invite too many people."
Two hours passed as Esme started to set up her three tables. She smiled as she stared at everything laid out. Nessie and Jacob were already there, watching the Thanksgiving Macys Parade. Just then a knock was heard at the door.
Esme ran to the door, looking in the mirror next to the door to make sure her hair was in place. She then opened it up, "Welcome!" She smiled as the other wolves walked in. She was saying hi to each one as they walked in, shaking their hand. She then saw cars starting to pull up. Her kids were upstairs, "Everyone come down! The group is here!" Esme said up the stairs. Her kids reluctantly started to come down the stairs as they notice several cars driving down the driveway.
"Uhm, how many people did you invite?" Rosalie asked.
Esme smiled as she watched the humans get out. "Lynda!" Esme screeched waving, "Guys this is my friend Lynda. She works at the party store."
Lynda laughed, "Hello, thanks for inviting us. This is my roommate Veronica. I hope you don't mind that I also invited her boyfriend Wilson."
"The more the merrier!"
The three walked into the house. Esme smiled as four more cars pulled up with only two people in each one. "Leroy!" Esme said, noticing him immediately.
"Leroy?" Jasper questioned.
Leroy came to the door, giving Esme a hug.
"I'm so glad you could make it!" Esme said, "Guys this is Leroy, he is the nice man that sold me the tables. Leroy this is my family that I told you so much about!"
Leroy laughed, "I heard so much about you guys, especially Emmett, hopefully my tables have stood up to your pranks."
Emmett looked upset at that joke. "So I tried to make my own circus one time, no big deal."
"Actually you tried twice." Rosalie said crossing her arms.
Leroy then looked back at Esme, "I'm so sorry, I have a few friends who were going to be alone this Thanksgiving and you said I can invite people."
"The more the merrier!" Esme said as everyone walked in.
Bella then whispered in Edward's ear, "Is she going to say that to everyone?"
"Probably."
Ten men dressed in rags started to walk out of the woods as they made there way to the house. "I thought the dogs were already here." Rosalie said gaining a laugh from the family.
"These are my good friends. I bought him lunch." Esme pointed to one in particular.
"Hey Esme!" The man said as he came up the stairs.
"Hi Jasper!" Everyone snickered that he had the same name as their Jasper. "Come on in with your friends!"
"Thank you so much. I invited some people from the homeless shelter, I hope you don't mind."
"The more the merrier." Esme said as Rosalie pretend to say 'the more the merrier' in a mock look, gaining a smack from Carlisle.
"Be nicer than that." He said to her.
"Sorry." Rosalie sneered.
"May we use the bathroom?" One of them asked.
"To your left, maybe after dinner, I can help you guys find new clothes. I know we must have something!"
"Thanks." They all said as they went into the other room.
More cars came down. Esme just looked even more excited. "The kid at the grocery store!" She squealed and my friend from McDonalds!"
"Uhm, when did you go to McDonalds?" Alice asked.
"Long story." Esme said as she hugged them as they came in.
Twelve more cars filled the driveway. People were parking on the lawn and more were parking on the side of the driveway, it was lucky that they had a huge driveway.
Esme hugged each person not knowing who they were anymore. The word must have gotten around.
Esme then closed the door as everyone was in the living room talking. "I think we may need more chairs." Esme said to her family. "Now you guys go mingle among everyone while I get everything ready." Esme said scooting them into the other room.
Esme walked in, seeing everyone talking to each other. Sam was talking to Leroy about their favorite sports. Homeless Jasper was talking to vampire Jasper about the civil war. It was a huge group.
Esme then cleared her throat as everyone went quiet, "Thank you guys so much for coming! I enjoy having many people around. Please find a seat. If there aren't enough at the tables, there are couches in the other room. My family can bring those in!"
Sure enough, there wasn't enough room as Edward and Carlisle were forced to bring more couches in. Everyone passed the food around as they all grabbed heaping spoonfuls of food.
The homeless man stood up as he held up his glass of cranberry juice. "I would like to propose a toast to Esme and her wonderful family. No one has ever shown such great kindness and love as you guys have today! Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for something and I am thankful for this time with everyone. Thank you Esme for inviting everyone. This will be a dinner no one will soon forget."
Everyone cheered as they all started to eat. Everyone started to talk again as they ate. Esme stood aside as she smiled seeing everyone enjoying themselves. Carlisle wrapped an arm around his wife, "You really out did yourself."
"I tried." Esme said.
When everyone was done, Esme started to wrap food up to give to people as they left. Emmett, Carlisle and Edward went to help the homeless males find clothes and allow them to take showers. Alice, Bella and Rosalie went to help the homeless females find clothes and take a shower as well.
As everyone was leaving the woman from McDonalds came up to Esme. "I decided to leave my husband." The woman said.
"I had a feeling you would want to." Esme called Jasper to her side, "Jasper, this is the woman I told you about. She needs a new place to start over. Can you help her?"
"Yeah, no problem. It will cost extra because it's a holiday but we can work something out." Jasper had the woman follow him into another room.
Rosalie noticed the little girl that was with her who must have been around six. "May I play with your little girl? I love children!"
The woman looked nervous and then nodded her head, "Yes, that will be fine." The woman said as Rosalie started to talk to the girl about her favorite television shows. They went into the living room as Spongebob started to play in the background.
Everything went perfect! Nothing bad happened!
"That was fun." Carlisle stated.
"Yes!" Esme said, "And to think, we can do it all over again next year!"
"Do we need so many people?"
"I want more next time."
"More?" Carlisle asked, sounding dumbfounded.
"Yes, I want to help more people!"
Carlisle smiled, "That's my wife, always thinking of others."
"Now to get down to business, I cooked so you guys get to clean." Esme said as she headed up the stairs.
"What?" Carlisle asked, shocked.
"And be ready soon, black Friday deals are tonight! I want to be the first one there. You know how I get when there's a good deal."
Carlisle sighed, Thanksgiving wasn't something that his family normally celebrated but Black Friday was. The stories for Black Friday were best left for another day though.
Carlisle walked into the kitchen to see a huge stack of plates and every pan dirtied. He was going to need help. A whole army wouldn't suffice for the work needed right now. At lest his wife was happy.
Happy Thanksgiving to All!
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