Calm Before the Storm

Day before Thanksgiving....I know I am not the only one with that anxious knot in their stomach wondering if the house is clean enough, do they have all the needed groceries, is everyone going to arrive on time? In this family though, we do up this Holiday like no other. The morning starts much like other normal Thanksgiving morning. The crowded house wakes up and there is the normal hustle and bustle in the kitchen while others take showers and get ready for the day. In our house, we each have a dish that we are in charge of and have been for a long time. I have a handle on the pumpkin pie. Cay does the mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce and Leah makes some fabulous intricate dessert. Misha will not be here to cook this year =(. Since I moved down to NC, my family usually spreads out between my grandparents house and mine.

The Harrell clan over the years has pretty much rolled a family reunion and Turkey Day into one huge 3 day event in Burgaw NC. Yeah, you heard me...3 days. Tonight and every night before Thanksgiving is Chili Night at Aunt Edna's house. Very informal and everyone brings a side dish and drinks and wait for all the stragglers to arrive. The kids have arranged an annual hide and seek game and long lost relative catch up from the previous year. The next day, more food and family. When I say family I need to let you know that the head count usually is between 60 and 85. Usually a group will get together that isnt doing cooking and go hunting or arrange a game of sorts. The rest of us spend our day in the kitchen. Due to the sheer numbers everyone must bring something or sometimes 2 somethings.

The night pretty much goes like this...mingling and catching up. Then a line is formed weaving in and out of several rooms where we count off until we have an offical head count. Then we take a moment of silence and remember and mention those who have passed away and those who are with us in spirit followed by a blessing the family wrote a while ago for this occasion. Then forms an incredibly long line through the kitchen and the smorgesboard that lies on every flat surface throughout the kitchen in my grandfathers house. Tables are set up in all areas of the house including the hallway. You can even find some enjoying their meal in bedrooms. After the dessert table is hit, the family not cleaning up goes for a walk around Burgaw down the main drag to the school and back. My immediate family on the way back stops in front of the family department store for my mom's christmas card picture. We go back to the house only to get a group photo of most people from the night. After that, the oyster eater head count for the next evening is taken and the crowds dispurse to rest up for the following day.

Black Friday is known as the busiest shopping day of the year. This part of our fall festivities is no different. We just break from it early so that we may drive to the riverhouse Friday afternoon. When you arrive, you will most likely see that century old cabin looking rustic as ever set back behind the trees with the Northeast Cape Fear silently placed in the background. Someone will most likely be washing oysters as Leslie, the man in charge of the main course, stokes the bonfire. You see, we do oysters the old fashioned way. We get an outside fire going until the coals are nice and hot. Then a piece of sheet metal is placed on top and set on metal standing rods. A bushel at a time, the oysters are dumped out on top of the sheet metal and covered with wet burlap to steam them.

We mainly eat outside on huge cable spool tables covered in newspaper. As the freshly steamed oysters are dumped upon the table, there is a mad dash and within minutes the crowd around the table has made quick work of them. Sometimes a guitar is brought ( I will probably do it this year)and we sing songs around the fire and eat drink and be merry until it is time to say our goodbyes.

With the 3 day Harrell Thanksgiving over, the relatives slowly start making their way all over the map back to their own homes and it all dies down until the next year when those same traditions, still stand and are renewed. For us, it a celebration of the closness no matter how far away, a reminder that we are there for one another no matter what, and an unsaid promise that this family cannot be broken.

The Death of Daytime Drama

For over 40 years, daytime drama, or soap opera's as we commonly call them, have been captivating housewives and stay at home moms for generations. Before I could crawl, walk, or talk, I was watching Soaps. My mother since she was a pre teen had been hooked on All My Children. I grew up with the cast of characters and loved seeing the story lines unravel to reveal some rediculous story that seemed so pliable as it played out in front of me.

Many of these characters I knew so well, better than even some real life friends. Adam Chandler and Erica Kane were the powerhouses I aspired to be. Greenlee and Kendall had the spark and fire I wished I possessed. I identified with small pieces of many of these characters and cried when a beloved character died and wondered who the killer was with every murder. I learned about romance from this show and how many ways it could go so terribly wrong.

In September, after 42 years, my beloved Soap aired for the last time. I cried. It was like a relative had just been killed and I found myself hating that last episode and thinking how stupid it was but in all actuality, there was no good way to end it. The next day, to my horror, the 1pm slot was filled with a dumb "cooking show meets The View" show called the Chew, and yes, the show is as tasteless as the name.
This month, they are taking away my second favorite Soap, One Life to Live, again it has been on the air longer than I have been on this earth. Who knows what crap will be in the 2pm spot now.

Now ABC has decided to put the final nail in the coffin and cancelled General Hospital as well to make way for boring reality TV that makes me want to cancel cable. I wonder if they know that they are ending a genre. Daytime Emmys will never be the same if they are even around much longer. Drama will no longer be scripted but appear as "reality" where antics and bad behavior impress younger minds as the way to behave. Actors will no longer have a way to jump start their careers.

How a vulgar skanky boozehound like Snooki won out over a classy self made woman like Victoria Lord, I dont know. How asparagus cooking could ever be more interesting than Janet from Another Planet throwing her twin down a well to steal her husband will never make sense to me. A sign of the times?? Yeah, but a very sad and discouraging one if you ask me.