Chapter 2: Busy Preparations
The next afternoon, Barney and Lucy were headed to the local grocery store and it was packed! "Must be the Thanksgiving hype." Lucy shrugged.
Barney nodded in agreement and grabbed a shopping cart. "Well, let's do this!"
"Alright!" Lucy smiled and decided to hang onto the cart as Barney pushed it. "Barney, if my grandma saw me cooking, she'd be very proud of me!"
"Oh, I'm sure she would." Barney smiled.
Lucy's smile grew "I'm going to make the best Thanksgiving feast yet! It'll have everything! Including the mashed potatoes with the lumps! Linus said mashed potatoes aren't supposed to have lumps, but what does he know?"
"What else are you gonna make?" Barney chuckled.
"Sweet potatoes! You haven't had a sweet potato until you've tried Grandma Van Pelt's sweet potatoes!" Lucy smiled "And her cranberry sauce. It's to die for!"
Barney smiled, his mouth already starting to water "Mmmmm mmmm! Sounds like we're gonna make a delicious feast!"
The two started to put groceries into their cart. "I hope everyone will appreciate what I'm doing." Lucy smiled.
Meanwhile, back up in the treehouse, the kids, Snoopy, and BJ were busy decorating the table. "There! That should do it! A perfect version of a dinner table!" Heather smiled.
"This'll be even better than sitting at the kids table." Tosha smiled.
"We decorated the treehouse for both Thanksgiving and autumn." Carlos smiled.
"And autumn is my favorite time of year-except for when school starts!" Sally smiled. "The leaves turn pretty colors, the air feels cooler, and scarecrows come out to dance!"
Min and Sally:
I like to roll in the leaves,
Feel the cool breeze,
Stuff a scarecrow top to bottom!
BJ and Carlos:
And you can call it "Fall"
If that's what you please,
But I say, "I like Autumn!"
BJ, Barney's Friends, and Peanuts Gang:
Oh, scoodle oppa doodle
Oppa deedle oppa deeze,
Our jackets - we're glad we brought 'em.
And you can call it "Fall"
If that's what you please,
But I say, "I like Autumn!"
Charlie Brown and Linus:
I like to roll in the leaves,
Feel the cool breeze,
Stuff a scarecrow top to bottom!
Tosha and Heather:
And you can call it "Fall"
If that's what you please,
But I say, "I like Autumn!"
BJ, Barney's Friends, and Peanuts Gang:
Oh, scoodle oppa doodle
Oppa deedle oppa deeze,
Our jackets - we're glad we brought 'em.
And you can call it "Fall"
If that's what you please,
But I say, "I like Autumn!"
Oh, scoodle oppa doodle
Oppa deedle oppa deeze,
Our jackets - we're glad we brought 'em.
And you can call it "Fall"
If that's what you please,
But I say, "I like Autumn!"
Yes, I say, "I like Autumn!"
After their song ended, Barney and Lucy came back from the store with Barney carrying many groceries while Lucy carried only two bags. "Hey Barney! Do you need any help?" Rerun asked.
"No, I think I can manage...but thank you though." Barney grunted setting the groceries down on the table.
"Wow! That's a lot of groceries! I bet it cost a lot." Sally said.
"Nope!" Lucy smiled. "Mr. Greene who runs the grocery store is very good friends with Barney, so he gave us all of these for free as a holiday treat!"
"Well that's very nice." Heather smiled. "And our parents will give us plenty of other food for Thanksgiving."
"Alright; what should we make, first?" spoke up Rerun.
BJ chuckled "Turkey, of course!"
"Turkey is the hardest food to make..." Charlie Brown reminded.
"How about the macaroni and cheese?" Lila asked, as all eyes landed on her.
"The WHAT?!" Sally asked.
"You've NEVER heard of Thanksgiving macaroni and cheese?"
"That's a thing?"
Lila giggled "Don't worry. I'll bring the ingredients for it."
"What else should we make?" Carlos asked.
"Grandma's mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce." Lucy said.
"And her sweet potatoes!" Linus added.
"Don't forget apple fritters!" Rerun exclaimed.
"So much to do; so little time." Charlie Brown sighed.
"You can say that again..." the tomboy seemed more distant than the day prior.
"Hey Peppermint. What's wrong?" asked BJ.
"Marcie's sick and won't be able to come to our first treehouse Thanksgiving." Lila explained.
"Oh. Gee, I'm sorry about that." BJ said.
"I never knew how much the holiday would make her that sad without her." Carlos said.
"It's not just that, Carlos." Peppermint Patty said. "I was 5 years old, we just finished Thanksgiving dinner, I had a mouthful of pumpkin pie, and this is the moment my mom and dad choose to tell me they're getting divorced."
"Wow. That's really sad." Heather said.
"After that, everything became kind of a blur." Peppermint Patty admitted.
"Well, don't worry, Peppermint Patty. You'll always have the support of so many friends like us." Charlie Brown smiled.
"Thanks, Chuck." Peppermint Patty smiled as Snoopy hugged her.
"OK PEOPLE! Let's get cooking!" Lucy shouted and with that, the kids started to prepare their first ever treehouse thanksgiving dinner.
The very next day, the treehouse was alive with energy as the kids, Snoopy, BJ, and Barney were still preparing dinner. It was very easy, thanks to Barney transforming the play kitchen into a real one with Barney magic, and the kids were being very careful.
"Wow! It's smells so good in here!" Barney bubbled with excitement.
"You bet, Barney! We got lots of different kinds of yummy foods for thanksgiving, like stuffing, corn, yams, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and turkey." Min smiled.
"I'm actually feeling a lot better, Barney. I still miss grandma, but cooking all this is making me feel better." Lucy smiled. "I can't wait for tomorrow! I don't know what could make it better." Just then, Schroeder entered the treehouse looking sad. "SCHROEDER!"
Schroeder sighed "They canceled the concert..."
Lucy smiled "THANK GOODNESS!"
"Excuse me?"
Barney chuckled "What she means is that we're glad you can join us."
"Oh. Well what're we making?" Schroeder asked.
"Turkey, many ways to do potatoes, about five different pies, three different cranberry sauces-" Charlie Brown began.
"No macaroni and cheese? Beethoven LOVED macaroni and cheese!" Schroeder stated.
"Told you; people eat mac and cheese during Thanksgiving." Lila smirked.
"But who would possibly eat an entire tray of macaroni and cheese?" Lucy asked.
"I probably could." Schroeder joked.
There was a knock at the treehouse door. Peppermint Patty went to get it. "Hey there."
"Hi Peppermint Patty!" Baby Bop waved, wearing a yellow jacket. "Hi Barney, hi Snoopy. Hi friends!"
Linus waved "Excited for Thanksgiving, tomorrow?"
"Yay! Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving! Thanks-what IS Thanksgiving?" the three year old asked.
"It's when we celebrate the pilgrims' voyage on the Mayflower, back in the 17th century. The voyage lasted weeks and the first few months were very rough! With lots of sickness and even death" Linus began before seeing the dinosaur was confused. "Does anyone have a simpler explanation?"
Sally nodded "On Thanksgiving, we say what we're thankful for, eat a lot of food, watch the Mary's Day Parade on TV and then have the worst stomachaches of the year!"
"Oh, I see! Then yes! Thanksgiving is going to be fun!" Baby Bop giggled.
"Tomorrow is going to be one of the best holidays we've ever had!" Lucy smiled.