November had almost completely passed through, while for many parts of the country, this would have been considered a colder time of the year, in Los Angeles, it was still reasonably warm. This was a good thing for the Boonchuy household because they were hosting guests that didn't move very easily in colder weather. The Plantars were frog people from another world!
It was the last Wednesday in November and Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy came rushing into their restaurant carrying a significant number of grocery bags.
"What's the big to-do?" asked a very curious Sprig.
"Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we make a point to open up our restaurant for the second half of the day for anyone finding themselves unable to cook their own feast," answered Mr. Boochuy.
"What is this Thanksgiving you speak of?" asked Hop-Pop who was now just as curious as his grandson.
"Well, it's this holiday where families gather together, they watch a parade in the morning, football in the afternoon and eat a significant amount at dinner time. At least that's the general idea, but everyone has a slightly different tradition. Ours is that we open the restaurant at noon right after the parade is over and basically offer refuge to anyone who can't make it to their family's dinner," explained Anne.
"Lots of food huh, well then that sounds like my kind of holiday!" said Hop-Pop happily.
"What exactly is football?" asked Polly.
"Oh, it's this sport where a bunch of burly men tackle each other for an oddly shaped ball," answered Mrs. Boonchuy as she and her husband began to put the groceries away with Anne's help.
"If the word tackle is involved, I want in!" exclaimed Polly.
"Hey, y'know this is technically your guys first Thanksgiving, what say the three of you join us for our traditions. You can maybe help out here, watch the parade with us and we'll have our dinner together. It won't be turkey, but it'll be good," suggested Anne. The Plantars were definitely interested.
So, on Thanksgiving Day itself, they had the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade playing in the Thai Go's television, Ned, their new delivery boy had come over so that he could do his job of delivering meals to anyone who wanted to order in a meal. So, the Plantars had to wear their disguises because Ned was still oblivious to the fact that they weren't human.
Mrs. Boonchuy made them some breakfast and the Plantars made various comments about the floats in the parade, the balloons and the marching bands.
"Don't you guys watch parades where you're from?" asked Ned.
"Well, let's just say the parades we typically watch don't have those giant balloons and the floats are never close to that big!" answered Sprig. When it was time to open, Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy began preparing a few meals that had been pre-ordered ahead of time. A few of their Thai neighbors came by to pick them up. But the majority of those pre-prepared meals were sent out with Ned for delivery. Later in the day, more of their Thai friends came to order their meals with their families.
It was a grueling afternoon, so many people had brought family members that had come to visit them that Anne and the Plantars often had to push tables together for the whole families to sit together. Polly managed to catch a few glimpses of the football game, but she was disappointed that there weren't any maces, clubs, swords or flaming torches involved. But that was for the best, otherwise she would have been too distracted to help out.
Ned finished delivering around four o' clock only to be sucked into helping out with some of the serving duties. They eventually did close the restaurant at 8 saying goodbye to their friends who in many ways were like family.
"Wow! That was exhausting! Is it just me or was the majority of people that came in people we had met at the Thai temple?" asked Sprig.
"They were, while most anyone goes for turkey on Thanksgiving a lot of friends come in for authentic Thai cuisine because they're like family to us. Because it doesn't really matter what your Thanksgiving dinner is, what matters is you're with the ones you love and food is served with love. We consider ourselves very fortunate to have such loyal customers," answered Mr. Boonchuy.
"And now we get to enjoy our Thanksgiving meal!" announced Mrs. Boonchuy as she pulled their food from the kitchen. So, Ned, the Plantars and the Boonchuy's all sat down together for a well-deserved meal before they had to clean the place up.
"Thanksgiving sure is hard work," said Hop-Pop.
"You said it! But at least we made some good tips serving everyone!" answered Anne with a wink.
I don't know how good this was. Many restaurants are open on Thanksgiving, and I felt that the Boonchuys would open theirs up, and tourists and their close friends might try something different on Thanksgiving as opposed to the traditional meal.