Chapter 60: Surprise Guests at Thanksgiving

The Henson’s hosted a Thanksgiving Party at their house that should have been written about in the Food section of the Boston Globe. The night before Thanksgiving you would have thought the party was at the condo because the small kitchen somehow fit six women in it, each preparing a different dish to contribute to the meal the next day. Each girl brought a dish that could feed fifty so there was a glut of food.

In the morning, the first carload of women left for Dillon and the Henson home about nine a.m. The back was filled with cushioned and boxed dishes of food, some which had been heating in our oven since six in the morning.

The other carload left at eleven o’clock with the remaining dishes and people from the condo. I drove.

While René, Ivy, Loren and I had been invited to their parents’ homes, we all opted for the communal dinner at Fran, Sheila, and Ally’s parent’s beautiful home. Jean had decorated the place with a ‘harvest’ theme, plus some early Christmas ornaments here and there. The whole house looked as festive as I’ve ever seen it.

From other directions, Lyle and Nancy, Chip and pregnant Gale, Rita and Sean, Aidan, and Matt all arrived, each carrying a major dish of some kind guaranteed to feed between fifty and a thousand people.

As I took my coat off to join the others, I got the surprise of the day. A pair of chilly feminine hands came over my eyes and a voice whispered in my ear, “Guess who?” I got a kiss on my neck.

I exclaimed loudly, “Oh, my God, Jane!” I turned around in complete surprise that my love from Denver was suddenly in Massachusetts.

Jane was in my arms and we were passionately kissing to the amusement of the others. She looked very pleased with herself. She told me, “I got into Boston about midnight from Denver. Instead of joining you, I accepted Jean and Dave’s invitation to be here as a surprise to you. I couldn’t bring a dish, so I offered my labor to help set up the house and decorate. That’s what I’ve been doing this morning.”

I asked enthusiastically, “How’d you get from the airport out here?”

Another feminine voice from behind me said, “With the rest of us in two rental cars. We coordinated our arrival times.”

I turned and immediately broke up crying I was so happy. Standing in a cluster were my brother Doug and Sheri, plus Marge, Pam, Pete, Bob, Brenda, and Mike. Marge’s husband Malcomb waved from the back of the hallway. I was so touched that everyone had gathered.

I turned back to Fran who’d appeared at my side, “Is this your doing?”

Fran grinned at me. “I thought you should have your whole family around you and so did everyone else.” She came into my arms and gave me a very wifely kiss. After that I started to hug and kiss everyone else in the house, some more than once. Fran said, “We couldn’t get everyone, but we just might get some visitors later today or over the weekend.”

The home developed a natural buzz about it. Part of it was conversation, but I heard the beating of hearts in sync with one another as I looked around and sensed the feelings between people. There was so much love in one place I almost couldn’t stand it.

Somehow the dining/living room had developed a single long table that could seat the twenty-seven of us. There were three huge turkeys, plus hams, a large roast, two ducks, Cornish game hens, yams, and untold numbers of side dishes. Dave showed me how the garage had been transformed into a temporary kitchen with two additional castoff ranges and ovens from one of his construction friends. Much of the ‘normal’ furniture in the house had also been stored out there to make room for the huge table and the hodge-podge of chairs that had been collected or borrowed. I was amazed at the logistics that had gone into having that big a crowd in one home.

We ate and ate and ate, and then there was that tryptophan low, where all you want to do is fall asleep because you ate too much turkey. A walk by many of us around the neighborhood solved that problem, and when we got back, we were put on teams by Jean to fold up the dining room tables and chairs, replace them with the normal furniture, and then socialize like crazy with everyone.

I briefly wondered about the sleeping arrangements for the out-of-town crew, but Jean explained that many of them were staying at their home, and that included her daughters since I was to take home some of the visitors ... to my bed. She gave me a big hug and kiss.

A group of us watched some football, and then mid evening there was a second casual meal served buffet-style, standing-up in the dining room from all the leftovers. By the time we’d finished that, the party began to break up. The Dunns and Reddicks bid us all goodnight and disappeared. Rita and Sean also left after a lot of hugs and kisses.

Jane, Brenda, Mike, Pam, Pete, Bob, Fran, Loren and I crammed into two cars after filling the backs with the share of leftovers we were to take home. There was a lot of laughter and some sitting on laps to fit everyone in. Sheila, Ally, René, Ivy, Sheri, Doug, Matt, and Aidan were staying at the Henson house with Dave and Jean. Dave explained that with six women and four men in the house, there was sure to be plenty of romance going on when the chaos of the party subsided. Jean confirmed that there would be some switching around the following day too so that everyone got a piece of everyone else.