Thanksgiving 2017 was different. Since 2010 I'd been celebrating Thanksgiving with 
bunny_hugger and her parents, and we did that part again. But this time we didn't host it at our house. bunny_hugger's mother was still feeling too much pain from her back, the one that had spoiled her whole year since early July, to feel comfortable spending the hour driving up here and spending the whole day at our house. (Where, among other things, there's not a first-floor bathroom, not an ideal situation when stairs are hard enough to take that she spent a lot of time sleeping in a chair downstairs instead of climbing up to bed.)
So we had it at bunny_hugger's parents', instead. Which amounted to, largely, a change in just who'd bring bags full of food to which house. We have an easier time finding things like the Tofurkey roasts that make for the centerpiece of dinner. We didn't bring our bunny plates or the enormous serving dish with His Majesty printed on it. Nor did we bring Columbo, trusting that he'd rather be allowed to just enjoy his area by himself rather than be tucked into his travel bin and forced to spend all day with a dog and a cat poking at the edge of his pen.
We were able to enjoy most of the usual Thanksgiving traditions, mind. The one that didn't work out is we couldn't watch the recorded Silver Bells parade. Their satellite TV provider decided they should get Kalamazoo rather than Lansing TV stations; both cities might be about as far from their house, but they get weather that's more like Lansing's than Kalamazoo's and they have more interest in where we live, anyway. We'd watch it (and the Macy's parade) when we had the chance, ourselves. Also the process of getting dinner ready involved many more chances to excuse the dog from the kitchen, since they almost never bring a dog up to our house. Somehow I missed the moment when bunny_hugger's father lit the fireplace because it turns out he's taken to using a flamethrower for that, which would leave us all stunned and taking pictures for social media come Christmas. Maybe the fire was lit before we got in.
We resolved once more that we ought to get Tofurkey roasts and make them just any old time, so we could enjoy them when we felt like and have the really good sandwiches they make as leftovers even outside Thanksgiving and Christmas. We keep forgetting we've resolved to do this, but, I did pick up one at the store last week and we'll see just when we do eat it.
And we made another try at the Mice and Mystics board level that had baffled us; as I remember, we didn't beat it that time, but we felt very good about our chances next time. While driving home, of course, that problem where my tire exploded and we had to wait for AAA in the parking lot of the Adult Superstore at 2:30 am. So that was terrible but great to have in the past.
Trivia: Oslo in 1952 became the first capital city to host a Winter Olympic Games. Source: Encyclopedia of the Modern Olympic Movement, Editors John E Findling, Kimberly D Pelle.
Currently Reading: George Green, Mathematician and Physicist, 1793 - 1841: The Background to his Life and Work, D M Cannell.
bunny_hugger and others photographing an enthusiastic dancer nearly at the stage.
I want to look at the lineup of people on stage but what the heck is that headless humanoid figure standing stage left of the panda? Why is his arm not connected to anything? What the heck is going on here? I'm not making a joke here, I do not understand what optical trick my camera is playing that this is a thing that I've got photographed. I don't blame you if you're a-scared of this too.
One more thing to be a-scared of: so back at our hotel there was this goose pair who'd picked their nesting spot near one of the parking lot strips and who were going to defend that spot come what may, even if it's like 2 am and we just want to get into the building already.