just wanted to take the time to wish everyone out there a happy thanksgiving! since thanksgiving is all about… well, showing gratitude, i’d like to say now that i’m thankful for all of my family and friends. i had a *ton* of food at the grandparents’, both sets. we have a sort of annual thanksgiving tradition where we (”we” being my immediate family) eat thanksgiving lunch at my maternal grandparents’ house and dinner with my paternal grandparents. there’s always a lot of turkey day goodness, like ummm.. turkey, obviously, and dressing, rolls, baked beans, and plenty of desserts. it’s cool to spend time with the cousins and other relatives we don’t see all too often. good times, good times.

for those of you who aren’t aware, today is also my birthday… awww, yeaaaah. i got a few birthday gifts from the family and we all went out to olive garden last night to celebrate; good food and company. of course i’m still accepting belated birthday gifts and well-wishers, so keep ‘em pouring in

another (at least recent) tradition is several of us in my dad’s family play poker after dinner around the holidays. this year being no exception, dad, myself, nick, jon paul and jordan all gathered around nanny and papa’s dining room table to play a rousing game of no limit texas hold ‘em. the last few years it seems like jon paul’s been the clear winner, but this year was my moment in the sun apparently.. maybe it had something to do with the fact that my birthday coincided with thanksgiving… hmmmm… ;-p we played with quarters from papa’s stash (he was the bank, and cashed in our dollars for quarters), and i ended up winning 20 bucks, which wasn’t too shabby.

the last hand i played with dad before he was tapped out was awesome.. he’d just bragged moments earlier about how he could read my poker face, or lack thereof, so the cards are dealt and i have an ace-seven. we both check, and the flop comes…. ace, ace, 7. i had showed my cards to jon prior to the flop, and tried my *best* NOT to reveal my monster hand. so i played it cool, and kept matching dad’s bets. basically the entire time i acted like i’m thinking hard about every decision, i.e. whether or not to match his bets, and theatrically mimicked the frustrated player. after the river he went all in… i just busted up laughing, and threw my cards down… “who’s got the poker face now!!” lol.. it was sweeet, of course i was excited that i’d just pulled one over on the old man.

i have some pics i took during the thanksgiving craziness that i’ll put up shortly in the gallery.