A Tailgating Thanksgiving

This is a tale of a family. A family that grew a little larger after a wedding and another wedding and then a baby.

This tale does not occur on any given day though - that might be a bit too normal for this family. No this tale happens on Thanksgiving Day. Most families have some sort of tradition on Thanksgiving Day, whether it be breaking the wishbone at a certain time, playing cards in the family room, watching or playing football, or watching hours of TV as the pumpkin pie continues to bake to perfection. My family's only Thanksgiving tradition was to be flexible. I haven't been to Fayetteville for Thanksgiving in 6 years...but the last two have been spent in Atlanta, GA. Last year, Kayleigh came in utero. This year, our baby was alive and well for her first Thanksgiving. It was a Thanksgiving like none other, only to be matched if Chevy Chase and his crew ever did a National Lampoons Does Thanksgiving. Just like any good story...it must be told and become a legend. The legend of the Tailgating Thanksgiving.

(As a brief side note and distraction: Doesn't Kayleigh just look adorable right now?! She has four teeth and I fed her table food during our Thanksgiving dinner. She's crawling and pretty soon is going to be talking and walking. Plus when she wakes up from sleeping she doesn't really cry but just stands in her play pen, looks around and smiles with a look that says, "Okay I'm up! It's playtime!" Absolutely adorable!)

Thanksgiving Day, Atlanta, GA

The morning began with the lovely chirp of my niece in her playpen as she awoke, ready to play, drink a bottle, and have her diaper changed. After some quality time playing with the stacking cups, ripping some magazines and watching a little bit of her first Thanksgiving Day parade, Allen and Hannah arrived to take her back to her hotel and then head on out to get ready for our feast.

Mom and Dad call around 2pm saying that they are finally in Atlanta. I go to their hotel, pick them up and then travel on over to our Thanksgiving destination: The Embassy Suites in Shady (Sandy) Springs, GA. My sister's father-in-law and his new wife were staying at the hotel for some business travel and hearing that we would all be in Atlanta decided to host us at the hotel for Thanksgiving. While we drove down the Indy 500 (a.k.a I-285 in Atlanta), Allen (my brother-in-law) called us from the roof of the hotel. What?! They got on the roof of the hotel to cook the Thanksgiving Day turkey?! This was going to be crazier than expected. Arriving at the hotel, we learn that Allen really meant the roof of the hotel parking deck, where we spent the afternoon watching Rob (my sister's father-in-law) finish up grilling the turkey.

Here is a picture of us with our set-up on top of the hotel parking deck. Rob brought the huge grill in his pickup truck, let down the bed of the truck, and grilled his heart out. Allen had his SUV up there so that in between the two cars Kayleigh could get away from the sun. I had a running bet with friends from school on what kind of beer would be located in the inevitably full coolers. Unfortunately we all shot a little low as the first thing in my hand as we rolled up to the parking deck was a Budweiser Select: The King of Beers and the King of the Tailgating Thanksgiving.

Rob did a fine job finishing the grilling of the turkey as everyone else hung out. Diane (Rob's wife) made some mashed potatoes and because she didn't have a strainer, she and Hannah strained the mashed potatoes over the side of the parking deck. I hope that no one was looking up at that moment! Look out below! There's a waterfall of potatoe water! Coincidence that they cleaned the windows the next day...hmmm...

Next on the list of hilarious moments of the day was when Diane wanted to have some wine to drink. However, we were in a hotel parking deck and therefore without any glasses to consume alcoholic beverages from...unless they came pre-canned (beer is so smart). So what do you do in a situation like this? Rob takes out his pocket-knife, picks up his Dasani water bottle, cuts it in half and voi-la! Automoatic wine glass! Diane drinks happily from her new wine holder.

Rob finishes up with the turkey and petitions Allen to help him remove it from the grill. Upon removal, the turkey is placed on the bed of the pick up truck before we carry it inside for our meal. Kayleigh's stroller is loaded up with lots of food, plates, tupperware and other necessary items for a Thanksgiving Tailgate!

Finally it's time to eat our turkey. We go inside to the hotel lobby and set up our Thanksgiving spread over a couple of tables and push some more tables together for our meal. Some of the food has cooled off so we cart certain food items up 9 flights of stairs in the elevator to heat it in the hotel microwave. I brought out the fine Chinet platter plates for the occassion and Mom contributed some essentials from Cracker Barrell. Rob carves the turkey, Kayleigh gets a high-chair and we start to eat in the hotel lobby. Unfortunately, no one joined us even though plenty of people walked by, including hotel staff. We had plenty of wine, beer, and food to go around...it could have been a Thanksgiving for all!

About 45 minutes later, folks start finishing up their Thanksgiving Dinner and Mom packs things up in her tupperware containers for leftovers. Rob shakes his head saying, "Katherine, we're not going to graze on the food all afternoon. I'm not used to a Thanksgiving where we eat and then pack it all up." In my head I think, "I'm not used to a Thanksgiving where we cook a turkey on the top of a hotel parking deck."

However, the fortunate part about having Thanskgiving in a hotel is cocktail hour - free drinks from 5:30 - 7:30.

It was a Thanksgiving to remember.

(In this last picture, the only reason that I'm as tall as everyone is because I stood on a ledge...so sneaky!)