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We had a lovely time at my aunt’s house yesterday for Thanksgiving. There was so much food! (Afterwards we watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding on DVD, which I hadn’t seen before. Cute.) A nice thing about a big meal is all the leftovers; we took a bunch home and are set for a few more meals.

Our contribution to the Thanksgiving feast was carrot cake. Granted, it came from a Betty Crocker mix, but we followed a suggested recipe on the box (“Ultimate Carrot Cake“), which calls for adding nuts, raisins, coconut, and pineapple to make it especially hearty. (The version at BettyCrocker.com is slightly different and also suggests orange juice and/or peel.) We used our new KitchenAid mixer to mix the batter, which admittedly is like swatting at a fly with a sledgehammer, but we were excited to use it for the first time.

We followed the recipe as written and then topped the cake with additional shredded coconut, which we had toasted in a pan. It looks and tastes great!

For the first time in over five years, I am not spending today, the day before Thanksgiving, on a plane. And to be honest, it’s kind of nice! Since we’re here in the Bay Area, close to most of my relatives, this year we’ll be spending Thanksgiving with my aunt’s family in the East Bay.

There will be a tinge of sadness to the holiday season this year, the first since my dad died in July. Last Thanksgiving, my parents, one of my aunts, and I spent a few days in Las Vegas, so that’s a happy memory to look back on. It seems so recent, so it surprises me to realize that was an entire year ago.

Okay, on to some airy holiday fluff. I leave you with “Turkey Lurkey Time” (Promises, Promises) from Camp. Everyone dance along! I have the “jingle bells”-arm-flapping down. And I could definitely use some plaid pants for the full effect.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Christmas has come early to our house this year! Our first Christmas present of the season arrived last week. Apparently Thom’s mom found a good deal on QVC for something she knew we wanted, and she decided to go ahead and get it for us. It’s a KitchenAid Professional Stand Mixer! Mmm, four hundred fifty watts of mixing motor power [insert grunting noises here], clad in metallic chrome to match our other appliances. We’ve yet to find the perfect spot on the kitchen counter for it, but already the coffeemaker and toaster oven are cowering in the distance. And oh, there are attachments to get! That’s right, pimp our mixer, yo.

I was IM-ing with Thom after the UPS guy delivered it, and I said we can be baking all season. “Hello pumpkin everything,” he replied. He knows me so well.

Last Saturday afternoon we saw the dance adaptation of Edward Scissorhands, directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne, famous (at least to me) for his Swan Lake re-cast with male swans. It was fantastic and moving. The story lends itself well to this treatment. The dancing, the sets, and the music, which includes Danny Elfman’s original score, of course, all were perfect. And you know Thom and I love that 1950s suburbia aesthetic. We conceded that familiarity with Tim Burton’s original movie helped, as some of the finer plot points aren’t inferred easily from the dance, and it was interesting to see where changes were made.

This U.S. premiere tour of Edward Scissorhands is now running at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco, and will continue to other cities through next spring.

Aside: after the show we walked a few blocks up Market St. and checked out the new Westfield San Francisco shopping mall. It’s a neat building, incorporating the dome from the original Emporium store on that site, but the whole experience is somewhat overwhelming. So many stores!

Over the last couple of nights I pored over the California election handbook, and while I’ve decided on the candidates, some of the propositions are so complex (or at least they’re presented that way) that I swear you need a degree in taxation to make any sort of informed decision. I’m still figuring them out at the moment.

I’ll go vote later today, probably after work. Since we moved back to my old neighborhood, it turns out that our local polling place is the library of my middle school. I know, trippy!

Candy? Check. Hastily made decorations? Check. We’re all ready for the little trick-or-treaters! It’s been several years since I’ve lived in this neighborhood, though, so I have no idea what the turnout will be. I may have gone a little overboard buying candy, but if so, more Snickers, Kit Kats, and Butterfingers for us!

First, here’s a photo of Thom, my little darling of Sherwood Forest, before he left for work today. I should’ve also taken a photo or video of him in costume as he picked up the newspaper in the driveway and drove away in his Prius. Funny sight. In any case, he won third place in the costume contest at his office! I love this photo that Julie took, with the cubicles in the background; it’s all, “Hark, didst thou not put a cover sheet on thine TPS report?”

I was going to be lazy and not dress up, but I figure if the trick-or-treaters are putting in a little effort, I could too. I borrowed Thom’s cowboy hat and leather vest, and here I am. “I wish I knew how to quit you!”

Happy Halloween!

In honor of Halloween, which is almost upon us, I present for your amusement a couple of photos from my days at Marjorie H. Tobias Elementary School. First, here I am in the first grade (1983) as a devil. I find this hilarious, because I am scaring no one. I’m pretty sure that’s a Pac-Man watch I’m wearing.

And next is the second grade (1984), where I am leading our class in the parade with someone that at first struck me as Strawberry Shortcake, but upon closer inspection I realize it’s not. Anyway, my mom had sewn my bat costume from a pattern; the trim glowed in the dark! I thought it was pretty cool.

It’s a shame I can’t find a Halloween photo from kindergarten, when I wore a Big Bird costume. Oh, the cuteness.

I meant to post this a while back: apparently Prison Break‘s Wentworth Miller had been on a couple of episodes of Popular, the over-the-top high-school comedy that ran for two seasons on the WB. (I only ever saw a few episodes and liked it, so I need to catch the rest on DVD eventually.) Here’s a YouTube sampling of Wentworth’s cattiness (rowr!) as a new kid clawing his way to become the school’s first male cheerleader.

Love the Hairspray reference. And yes, I am a YouTube fanatic, despite not having posted my finds here before. Consider the floodgates open.