Never. Eating. Again.

So far, no amount of perfectly-pulled shots from a vintage Olympia Cremina espresso machine seems to be able to counter-act the serious lethargy brought on by the, oh, let's say 20,000 (give or take a few hundred) calories that I have consumed the last couple of days.

I think we achieved our goal eating constantly and doing little. "What is your favorite holiday?" was a question that circled the dinner table the other night; and while I was certainly smitten with my five-pound plate of turkey (dark and white), mashed potatoes, yam hash, green beans (both of these had bacon in the dish), pearl onions in Swiss-cheese sauce and gravy on damn near everything...whew...I said that Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday for reasons that extend beyond the goodness that was on my plate.

I said so, because other than a couple full days of cooking, you don't really have to "do" anything...just be grateful for all the stuff on your plate. I was and I am. Thanksgiving takes me (an presumably others) back to the rosiest of childhood memories. I can hear my Father's electric knife carving off the bird - and the huge skillet of gravy coming together on the stove and once the dinner hit the table, everything tasted like ambrosia and everone seemed to appreciate the moment around that dinner table(s).

On this Thanksgiving, even though some bit of turkey tried to kill me, by momentarily hanging up in my esophagus (eck!), Thanksgiving is great because it makes you so thankful in fact, that you don't really want food ever again. Maybe just a feather and some privacy?

I think I know what it's like to be one of those huge snakes in a National Geographic that just swallowed a whole suckling pig.

I am also thankful for vegetarians, and that we have vegetarian friends who are coming over for dinner tonight. I could handle some vegetables that are prepared without the flavor-enhancing additives of bacon or dairy.

Come to think of it - any holiday that can make you thankful of vegetarianism or damn near anything or anyone is pretty great. See, Thanksgiving IS my favorite holiday.

Celery stick, anyone?