The Game and the Dinner

Tomorrow is the day the youth group is doing a Thanksgiving dinner with our senior citizens. When we started this, we figured on maybe 35 people showing up. We are now expecting about 45. My co-advisor is out of commission after surgery for a detached retina. This morning I will be making massive amounts of cranberry relish and stuffing. Tomorrow I will do 2 turkeys. Fortunately, there are 2 ovens at the church, so I will do the cooking over there.

The most challenging part is that a few of the mothers have stepped in and seem to want to change some of the plans the kids made. The kids want the meal served family style around tables put together to make a big square. The mothers consider that stupid, and think the food should be served out of the kitchen. I intend to make sure the kids wishes are followed. It wasn't what I suggested to them, but they were adamant that this is what they wanted to do. I think we need to honor their plans.

I'm proud of my youth group this year. For the first time, they are coming in with ideas and suggestions, and many of them are very good ones. For years, it was like pulling teeth to get any ideas out of the group. This group has known me since before they started school, and are very comfortable with me, which is bad and good. They participate well, but they have no fear of me. There are times when it is useful when working with a bunch of teenagers to have them a little bit afraid....

This afternoon is The Game. The entire college football seasons builds towards this game, and I happen to root for the other team. I catch flack about it all year, but especially this weekend. What they don't know is that my interest in college sports has grown tremendously just so I can talk intelligently about The Rivalry. I am not optimistic about my team's chances this year, but it will still be fun to watch the game and listen to everyone harass me tomorrow. Daughter and I will eat junk food as we watch the game, which makes it one of her favorite days of the year.

Hopefully it will be a fun day, and Daughter will find it comforting to work with me in the kitchen and watch The Game with me. She finally has come back to rooting for my team, which is good. I know one family where one kid shares my love for the other team. He is banished from the rest of the family today and will watch the game alone-- though I suspect when our team scores, he will make sure to point it out.