It was Thanksgiving day. Alison had been up since 7 a.m. getting the house all ready and preparing the kitchen for the chaos that was about to ensue in there. A few hours later, Jack and Livvie arrived. Livvie wanted to arrive extra early, since she and Lucy would be helping out in the kitchen with the food. Though, it was understood that Livvie and Lucy have absolutely no cooking skills, whatsoever, and so it would be Alison doing the majority of the cooking today.
"So what can I do to help?" Jack asked as Livvie and Alison began to make their way toward the kitchen.
Alison walked over toward Jack, "The best way you can help is to just sit here on the couch and watch your games today. I'm gonna have enough...ummm...shall we say... 'culinarily-challenged' people 'helping' me today."
Alison glared over at Livvie with a teasing smile.
"Hey!" rebutted Livvie, "I can cook!"
Jack couldn't resist. "Yep, she sure can...as long as it comes with directions for microwave preparation. Livvie can make a Hungry Man Dinner JUST the way I like it!" Jack teased.
"You better watch it, or you're gonna find out the real meaning of 'Hungry Man'."Livvie threatened lovingly.
Alison interrupted the couple, "Well, any help is good help today. My feet are swollen almost as big as that turkey in there. So...let's go get started."
"Are you sure you don't want me to do anything?" Jack asked again.
"No, just watch your games. Kevin and Lucy should be here soon, and Jamal is supposed to come too, so you'll have company." Alison patted Jack on the head as he sat down on the couch.
Just as Jack sat down and Alison and Livvie turned to go into the kitchen, the doorbell rang.
"Oh! There they are now!" Alison walked over to the door.
Before she could get to the steps leading up to the doorway, however, Lucy poked her head through the entrance.
"Yoohoo! Happy Turkey Day!"
As the door opened fully, Lucy, Kevin, Serena, and Christina all spilled into the house.
"Thank you so much for having us! I can't believe you offered to cook Thanksgiving dinner for all of us!" Lucy took off her coat and scarf and came down into the living room as she continued her ramble, "Me...I hire caterers...speaking of which, I still don't understand why you wouldn't just LET me call in the caterers! You shouldn't be standing around cooking huge meals! Look at you!"
Alison glared down at her large stomach, "Yeah, I know...I'm looking at me...ALL of me!"
"Oh shush! You look beautiful! I just meant that, well, you've already got that bun cooking in the oven...you shouldn't have to worry about any other buns...or turkeys...in any other ovens."
Alison hugged Lucy and the two laughed.
"And! Speaking of turkeys...You know I don't eat them, out of love for my duck and all, so I'll help you out in the kitchen with everything, but don't be offended if I just delight in the other parts of the meal when dinner time comes."
"Oh I know, Lucy. I'm sorry, I know you don't eat turkey on Thanksgiving, but I just wanted to cook the traditional Thanksgiving meal for everyone and all. I only hope I'M not offending YOU."
"Offend me?! Please! I'm sure Kevin will be delighted. He hasn't had a real turkey on Thanksgiving in...well...a REALLY long time! Besides, I may not eat the turkey, but I promise I won't have any problems with the trimmings," Lucy reassured Alison as the rest of her family made themselves at home.
Kevin immediately made his way over to the couch with Jack to sit down and watch the football games. "So I guess this is where they want us?" he asked Jack.
"Yeah, this is the area for those of us who are unwanted in the kitchen."
"Sounds good to me."
Christina and Serena walked over toward the couch.
"I wanna watch the people in the street with the big balloons!" Christina said excitedly as she approached the television.
"I think she wants to watch the parades, Kevin." Serena translated.
Jack's and Kevin's eyes widened as they looked at each other, concerned about the possibility of missing the games.
"Hey, honey," Kevin started sweetly, "do you know what's even BETTER than the parades?"
"What?" Christina asked, excited at the idea of something even MORE fun than a large Garfield making it's way down the streets of New York City, followed by performers on gorgeous floats singing and dancing, not to mention the grand finale of the parade, with none other than the big guy from the North Pole.
Kevin and Jack both shot out the response at the same time, "Football."
"Football? Are there balloons and people in pretty dresses in football?"
"Well...not exactly-..." Jack and Kevin began to explain the "excitement" of football to Christina, who looked slightly confused, as Serena listened in to the amusing attempt at persuasion.
The doorbell rang again.
"It's open!" Alison yelled out, sick of walking over to the door over and over again.
The door opened and Amanda Barrington entered the house, followed by none other than her favorite "hooligan" – Jamal.
"Really! Alison! What kind of manners are those?!"
"Oh, Nana...not today, please." Alison approached her grandmother and kissed her lovingly on the cheek. "Jamal? You came with Nana?"
"Mr. Woods and I simply arrived at your doorstep at the same time."
"Yeah, seems like Granny and me got our watches in sync, huh?"
Amanda rolled her eyes with disdain.
"Well I'm so glad you could make it, Jamal! Thanks for coming! You can join 'the boys' over there, watching their football games."
Jamal walked over to the couch and greeted Jack, "Hey man, what's up?"
"Nothin much, we're just explaining to Christina here the undeniable excitement of the game of football."
Christina looked up from Kevin's lap at Jamal, standing tall above her. "I just wanted to watch the parade."
"Aww! You gotta let her watch the parade! Nothin like the Turkey Day parade. I'm sure there's another TV around here somewhere."
"There's one in my mom's old room, but I guess that's Alison's room now. Do you think she'd mind?" Serena questioned.
"Nah!" Jamal called over to Alison, "Hey Ali! Can the girls go watch the parade in your room?"
"Of course you guys can! Go ahead! The remote's in the dresser drawer."
Serena and Christina got up from the couch and were heading for the bedroom, when Christina turned around and ran up to Lucy, who was heading in the opposite direction toward the kitchen, with Livvie, Amanda, and Alison.
"Mommy?? Why does everyone keep saying it's Turkey Day? I thought it was Thanksgiving."
"Oh, sweet pea... 'Turkey Day' is just another funny name for Thanksgiving Day."
"Why?"
"Because...people eat turkey on Thanksgiving."
"Where do they get the turkey?"
"From the store, sweetie." Lucy prayed that this answer would be satisfactory to her daughter and end the whole interrogation, but her prayers were in vain.
"But...where does the store get it from?"
Serena jumped in and gave her sister the response she was looking for, "Ya see, a turkey's a kind of bird. So someone goes out and kills the turkey, and sells it to the store, and then we buy it and cook it."
Lucy could not believe Serena's bluntness with Christina. She was trying to be cautious in her responses, but Serena just put it all out on the table.
"A kind of bird? Like...Sigmund?!" Christina's expression turned into one of great concern.
"No, silly!" Serena said smiling, "Sigmund's a duck. He's not a turkey...though, the duck is probably a relative of the turkey, since they're both poultry...so I guess you could say ducks are cousins to turkeys."
Christina was now filled with horror and panic at the concept of cooking and eating this turkey. "Mommy! We're gonna eat Sigmund's COUSIN?!!"
She began to cry and Lucy had to step in and comfort her, like any good mother.
"No, no, no! Of course not, sweet pea! We won't eat Sigmund's cousin!"
Everyone in the room just stared at one another in bewilderment as the vision of a Thanksgiving meal with a big, plump, juicy turkey begin to fade away.
Jack was the first to break the silence, "Uhh...so does this mean no turkey?"