I arrived at home for Thanksgiving about an hour later than I should have. My dad and grandpa agreed to do dinner on Sunday since I work on Thursdays. I walked in the front door to be greeted by my dad yelling at me from the kitchen that it’s about time I showed up. I rushed in to see what I could do, only for him to continue fussing that he’s been going crazy cooking all morning with no help. I washed my hands and waited for him to give me a task.

I ended up making the mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce with actual fresh cranberries, and rolls. He made a casserole with squash, broccoli, and rice, which was new this year. He said he used to make casseroles all the time except they also had chicken in them, but I don’t remember ever having one. This casserole was very good, except it had too many breadcrumbs at the bottom which made a dusty, gooey sort of amalgam that peeled away from the rest of the portion when it was served. He asked me if there were too many breadcrumbs and I nodded but said it didn’t matter.

My dad cooks his turkeys on the charcoal grill, and they’re always amazing. I took a video of him carving the turkey on Snapchat. I sent it to him and he complained that it was too short. I ate too much during the meal and didn’t have any room for dessert. My grandpa made the rum cake he always brings, except this year it had granulated sugar on top. One year it had so much rum in it that it had that feeling you get in your mouth after you take a shot, that fume or vapor sort of feeling.

After dinner, my grandpa gave me $20 that he said was from his girlfriend. The money was all in one dollar bills, which he said was from the carwash. I knew he worked at the carwash part-time since he retired, but I didn’t know if she did. I didn’t ask. I wondered if that’s where they met. I only met her this past May at my grad school graduation and she was kind of introduced like she’d been around a while but not mentioned until now. I’ve never asked any of that either.

My grandpa left and I slept on the couch wearing my coat and two blankets for two and a half hours. When I woke up, my dad and I watched Designated Survivor and an episode of Columbo that had Ricardo Montalbán in it. We had to turn that off halfway through to turn on The Walking Dead, and now I can’t even remember what the episode was about. This new season is a little boring. The Columbo episode was about bull fighters and was pretty good. Ricardo Montalbán is a good actor and I like Peter Falk because of The Princess Bride. I told my dad about all the adult braces I’ve seen lately, which is now up to four. In the morning, I packed up some leftovers and cornered the stray cat he adopted (who is still afraid of me) so I could put her outside for the day.