Thanksgiving

by John Aldrich

After the rug show the heavy lifting is pretty much done for the year. It's a time for volunteers to reflect on another year of service to the Elders as well as on the good spirit created by working with one another. We do this at the annual Thanksgiving Dinner at the warehouse. It's a pot luck affair that can handle up to 100 people. The warehouse is transformed, as much as a warehouse can be, into a party setting with decorations appropriate to the season:

As people arrive with their assigned dishes, the long food table starts to fill with tempting sights:

There's plenty of time to socialize before eating:

And our new Shi Yazhi princess was introduced by Eileen Quintana:

Finally it's time to eat. The big question every year is which table will get to go first. Those who try to outguess Linda often find they are at the end of the line:

But there's plenty of delicious food for everyone. Three large turkeys and a Honey Baked ham served as the main staples while the variety of enticing side dishes seemed endless. And there was no shortage of desserts.

After we were all sated we sat back in our chairs anticipating being entertained by a song or two from Harry James. But Harry had other plans, and we ended up being the entertainment ourselves. Harry taught us a song in Navajo and asked everyone to sing along. Stumbling through this as part of the group was humbling enough, but he then invited individuals to come up and join him. As most of us were trying to hide under the table, Harry spotted Paul Barron who stepped forward and did a credible job:

Finally Linda got her turn:

She handled the song with sufficient aplomb that we suspect she wasn't totally unfamiliar with it.

It was a wonderful evening of food and fellowship.