Thursday, November 26, 2015

2015
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER





DECEMBER
GO TO 2016

Today's Horoscope (Virgo): Cherish what you have today. You never know when it might be taken from you.

Early Morning

Enticing smells permeate the entire house. Cadance commandeered the bathroom first thing this morning; Shining Armor called second, while everyone else offered me third crack at it. While waiting for my turn, I reply to all my friends' messages on Canterbook. I decide to put on the dress shirt Rarity gave me for my birthday, as well as a new pair of slacks I bought the other day and some nice shoes.

When I'm done, I head into the living room. Cadance announces that she's getting breakfast ready for everybody, but it'll take some time since half the kitchen is taken up with Thanksgiving preparations.

Twilight walks in, wearing jeans and a dark red sweater. "So, who else is coming besides the six of us?" I ask.

"It's just us this year," Twilight says. "Grandpa has the flu so he and Grandma can't come, Nana's camping for Black Friday, and Cadance's dad objects to Thanksgiving because his grandparents on his mother's side were Buffalo Tribe." She shrugs. "I like it better this way...it's more fun the fewer of us there are, and we can relax and enjoy everything."

Sounds good to me. I think meeting a whole slew of Twilight's relatives all at once would be a little...much.

"Come on into the kitchen if you want breakfast," Cadance calls. We head into the kitchen; Shining Armor and Night Light drift in after us, with Velvet not far behind. She looks like she's barely awake and has serious bedhead.

"Trouble sleeping?" I ask her.

She groans. "The part I hate about all this? Turkeys are like babies."

"You...have to get up in the middle of the night to change their diaper?" I ask.

Twilight breaks out laughing, as do the others. Velvet rolls her eyes. "More or less," she says. "If you want it ready by one in the afternoon, it has to be in the oven at four in the morning."

"Ouch. I didn't know that..."

Velvet looks at me curiously. "Surely you've seen your mother cook a turkey before, right?"

I snort. "My mom can barely make macaroni and cheese. Even when my parents are around for holidays, we buy everything pre-made."

"Oh," Velvet says with a mild frown.

Cadance serves each of us a sandwich...the most unusual "sandwich" I've ever seen. It's crumbled pork sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, cheese, and hash browns stuffed between two pancakes.

Velvet raises an eyebrow. "Already trying to one-up me, dear?"

"You're gonna love this, Mom," Shining Armor says, cutting his in half and picking one half up, taking a huge bite.

I do likewise. It's...it's amazing. The others seem to agree, as there's very little conversation while we all wolf down Cadance's incredible breakfast creation.

"We only get one each?" Twilight asks.

Cadance laughs. "Sorry, Twilight...we've gotta leave something in the fridge for breakfast tomorrow." Everybody laughs.

"Besides, there'll be plenty to eat this afternoon," Velvet says with a smile.

Night Light gives me a serious look. "I'm amazed you didn't run away screaming the first time you saw Twiley eat," he says.

"Dad!"

I laugh. "Actually, I think it's cute," I say. Twilight blushes.

"Wow, you must have it bad," Night Light says, shaking his head.

"Dad, cut it out!" Twilight whines.

After breakfast, Velvet and Cadance shoo the rest of us out of the kitchen so they can work. Night Light turns on the television and puts on the Thanksgiving parade in Manehattan. Shining raids his room and returns with a few board games; we decide to play Scrabble to pass the time.

I think we all sort of forgot we were playing against Twilight...

Afternoon

At one, Cadance asks Shining Armor to set the dining room table. At one-thirty, Velvet announces that it's time to eat.

The six of us gather around the table, which is laden with an astonishing banquet. In the center is an enormous golden-brown turkey. A huge bowl of stuffing sits to the side; on the opposite side is a pot of scalloped potatoes. A casserole dish contains green bean casserole; another has cream corn casserole. There's a serving dish full of okra and stewed tomatoes, another one with green peas and carrots, yet another with yellow squash, and a basket of piping hot dinner rolls. Lastly, a gravy boat which is issuing steam into the air, and a plate with sliced cranberry sauce.

"There's plenty to choose from, so eat whatever you like...if there's something you don't like, don't feel like you have to eat it. I wanted to make sure there was a variety," Velvet says as Night Light carves the turkey. Shining Armor pours everyone a glass of ginger ale. I raise an eyebrow at that; that's...not exactly traditional.

Shining Armor and Cadance sit next to each other across from me and Twilight. Velvet is sitting on Twilight's other side, while Night Light is sitting next to Shining Armor. For several minutes, we load up our plates; I place two large slices of white meat on my plate, ladel some gravy over it, then add some peas and carrots and a large spoonful of green bean casserole beside it. I take a couple spoonfuls of okra and tomatoes and one spoonful of the potatoes, then heap a large dollop of stuffing on my turkey. There's just enough room left to put a roll on my plate.

I look over at Twilight's plate. As expected, she's managed to take some of everything. It's all mixed together, too. The only thing she doesn't have is gravy, but that's because she's completely covered the mix of white and dark meat on her plate with other food.

"Don't forget to leave room for dessert, everybody," Cadance says as she butters her roll, then passes Shining Armor the butter. When it comes around to me, I pass it back to the center of the table; I'll just use my roll to sop up gravy.

We all dig in, silverware clinking against plates and the sounds of chewing, murmurs of appreciation, and repeated utterances of "This is good" the only accompaniment for some time. Everything is delicious; I know I'll regret it, but I'm sure I'll end up having thirds.

Twilight is, for a change, not inhaling her food, but savoring it. Relatively speaking; she's still eating a lot faster than the rest of us, but nowhere near the speed at which she usually eats. I smirk at her. "Well, Twilight definitely loves your cooking, Mrs. Velvet," I say.

"Twilight loves anything that sits still long enough for her to eat it," Velvet says. We all laugh.

"True, but she's eating a lot slower than usual," I say. "That means she's really enjoying it."

Twilight stops eating and looks at me, wide-eyed. The others glance at me. Cadance smiles. Shining Armor's jaw drops. Night Light raises an eyebrow.

"Really?" he asks, looking at Twilight.

Twilight blushes. "You...actually noticed something like that?"

"I'm her mother and I never picked up on that," Velvet says, eyes wide.

I return to my own plate. "This green bean casserole is awesome," I say.

"Oh, you like it?" Velvet says. "I used cheese-flavored onions for the topping, and I added a little more paprika than the recipe calls for."

"We should have this at the dorm sometime," Twilight says. "It's not hard to make, is it?"

"Oh, not at all," Velvet says. "You pretty much dump everything in and throw it in the oven."

"So Flash," Night Light says, "I hear your parents aren't even coming back for Christmas."

"They can't," I say. "They won't be coming back until August."

"That's awful," Velvet says. "Not seeing your parents for that long?"

I shrug. "Even when they're around, they're not around, you know? Honestly, I talk to them about as much right now as I ever did. We're not...close."

Velvet and Night Light look at one another.

"Well, you're more than welcome to come back for Christmas if you want," Night Light says.

"Yes, we'd be happy to have you," Velvet says.

"Thank you, I think I'd like that," I say.

"So Dad," Shining Armor says, "who do you think's gonna win the game this afternoon?"

Shining Armor and Night Light get into a lively discussion about football, while I load up my plate again. It suddenly dawns on me that as happy as I am now, come August, I'll have to go back to Seaddle...

Once everybody has had their fill of the feast on the table, Shining Armor and Night Light clear away the serving dishes while Cadance and Velvet bring out the desserts. There's an apple pie, a sweet potato pie, a pecan pie, a blackberry cobbler, a fig cake...

I decide the stomachache I'll have later is worth it and have some of each. Twilight's on the same page as me, of course, while the others pick two or three desserts to sample and call it a day.

After that, Shining Armor helps Cadance and Velvet clear away the dishes and put away the leftovers while Twilight, Night Light, and I head to the living room to watch the game. Twilight and I occupy one end of the couch; she leans heavily into me, and I wrap an arm around her, holding her close.

By halftime, all the heavy food I've just eaten kicks in. I can't seem to keep my eyes open...

Evening

The living room is dark and quiet; the only light is from a single table lamp. I look around; Twilight is still beside me, sound asleep. Cadance is sitting across from us, alone on the love seat, reading.

"Ugh...what time is it?" I ask quietly.

"It's after seven," Cadance says. "Vel went to bed about an hour after dinner, Dad and Shiny went upstairs to pass out right after the game." She giggles. "You two have been asleep for a few hours now."

Twilight is completely out for the count. I brush her hair out of her face and shift around to hold her more snugly. My left arm is half asleep; I try to adjust my hold on Twilight so I can get some circulation back.

"What about you?" I ask.

Cadance shrugs. "I didn't eat as much as everybody else. I did doze off during the last quarter of the game, but that was more because football bores me."

"You ate more than Mrs. Velvet did," I point out.

Cadance smirks. "She was also up at four in the morning cooking all that food."

"True." I sigh as I look at Twilight.

"What's wrong?" Cadance asks.

"It's..." I look down. "Talking about my folks...just reminded me that what I have now isn't gonna last." I swallow heavily. "In August, when my parents come back, I...I have to go back to Seaddle." I feel my eyes starting to sting. "And...that'll be the end of...of all this." I look at Twilight again. "When I moved to Canterlot, I...I didn't have anything. Now, I have...I have so much...I've fought so hard to protect what I have..." The tears are coming. "And...I can't hold on to any of it."

"Flash..." Cadance looks sad. "Don't think like that. You don't know for certain what the future holds. And...your friends are never going to forget you. None of us will. Twilight sure won't." She smiles at me. "Even if you do go back to Seaddle for senior year...you can always come right back to Canterlot for college, right? And to stay?" She stands up, walks over, bends down, and kisses me on the forehead. "Don't worry so much about what's going to happen that you forget to enjoy what you have right now. When...when August comes...you can deal with it then, but...if you start worrying about all that now..." She brushes tears away from my eyes. "All you'll be doing is hurting yourself. And Twilight. And everyone else."

She stretches and yawns. "I'm gonna go take a long bath and go to bed. I figure Shiny'll be up in a couple hours raiding the fridge." She smirks. "Maybe if I'm there when he wakes up, he'll have something better than food to think about." She winks, then heads upstairs.

I look over at Twilight, who's still sound asleep. I lean in and kiss her, then pull out my phone and surf the web, all while holding Twilight close.

It's past nine when Twilight finally wakes up, and predictably, she's hungry. We both raid the fridge, then turn on the television with the volume down and find something to watch.

We have to turn the volume up before long to drown out the sounds of Cadance and Shining Armor making love upstairs. Twilight's face is completely red.

Before long, Velvet and Night Light come downstairs in their robes, looking slightly put out. "I'd better get a grandchild out of that," Velvet mutters, shaking her head.