Twas the Night Before Christmas (well actually Thanksgiving)

This day really started last night when, on my way home from Barnes and Noble’s, I was fortunate to have some help making an absolutely critical decision. See, on the night before Thanksgiving, the grocery store is only so long, and then it is closed on Thanksgiving. Now you are all sitting there saying “tell me something I don’t know,” but this is what made last night’s decision so critical to today truly being a good day.

See, I realized yesterday afternoon that I had, essentially, no food in the house and that meant a very hungry Thanksgiving Day given that the stores and the restaurants would all be closed. Once this dawned on me I ran out to the local food coop and bought some veggies and snack food and what not, then because I am knew to this area I took the receipt over to the closest large grocery chain and checked the prices of the two stores. In so doing, I learned two things, the coop is cheaper, again, you may be thinking “yeah so,” but this was news to me, I also learned that the grocery was open until 1:00 AM. This meant that I could stay at Barnes and Noble’s until ten and then still have time to go get some additional items if I so decided. We are sneaking up on the most critical and urgent of all decisions.

So I rang my trusted “Sage,” and wished him an early Thanksgiving and then began our rather non-senseacle and innocuous conversation. Mainly, I was taking advantage of the fact that he gets funnier the more tired he is and he was exhausted. I drove to the store, having realized that I had only bought basic items for food, and nothing “special” for Thanksgiving Day, no Turkey, no fixin’s, just stuff. I also had nothing but the recent breakfast winners in English muffns, Thomas’ of course, and some mutli-grain bread, plus a newer addition in the Thomas’ seven grain bagels, or something like that.

It had been suggested that I might make some pancakes for breakfast, and treat myself, and thus the entire late night shopping spree had its source, but an ill advised plan. This is where the sage comes in. As I entered the store he was trying to guide me on what I might get to make the Thanksgiving breakfast special. Somehow our focuses diverged for a bit, we were both still on breakfast, but he was trying to cover as many country with breakfast as possible, such as French Toast, and Canadian Bacon, Belgium Waffles, and some kind of eggs with hollandaise sauce and Swiss Cheese. The hollandaise I don’t quite get because I thought that was French and we had the toast, but never doubt the sage.

While he was on this country quest, on the Bluetooth which was in my left ear, I was selecting my own items, going with an all-American theme, sort of, and flirting a bit with a few of the patrons, I am my father’s son.

My choices were far simpler, Oscar Myer bacon, Hormel link sausage, Aunt Jemima pancake mix and syrup, and so on. I even went so far as to choose Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls, which are very good, but a coronary in a can. Anyway, at some point along the way, with the Sage making me chuckle as I walked through the aisles looking like a nut, laughing out loud, I decided to put everything back and left the store. The Sage was stunned.

I drove back to the front of my house and sat there trying to decide what to do. It was come inside and get to bed at a reasonable hour or make a decision on what I really wanted to eat on this Thanksgiving Day and go back to the store with some focus and get what I needed. A decision was made; pancakes for breakfast with lots of butter and syrup, and ham and beans for lunch. Back to the store I headed.

Meanwhile, the Sage, in his delirious state, was still entertaining me, and educating me in my left ear. Both would happen in greater quantities once back in the store. For instance, I learned a tremendous more than I ever knew about butter, and what makes butter butter, and about milk and the origination of the 1 %, 2 % approach to life, something about the butter fat floating on top of the bottles of milk and someone realizing that they could remove some or all of that butter fat. And Sage you thought I never listened.

There was also a lengthy discussion on hams, and big versus little, good versus bad, both in taste and byproducts, and in why there is water added to every ham?? I think I missed that one. Anyway, I did manage to complete a focused shop, with the Sage’s help, and returned home with pancake mix, syrup, butter, a ham, baked beans, the “original” black bread, not sure what made it original, and a couple of other things that I do not remember at this time. It was the latest I had been up in a very long time.

Thanks for the help Sage, a job well done.

Thank you again for getting this far with me.