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instead of sleeping late, i woke up early this morning to watch the macy's day parade on television. NBC seemed to be the official broadcaster, but instead of being treated to images of gigantic floating balloons, i was exposed to a barrage of broadway musical numbers. flipping the channel, i saw that CBS was also broadcasting, and they were further up the parade route, and they were in fact showing the balloons. the barney balloon had a large gash in one of his purple legs and seemed to be deflating. after flipping back to NBC and catching the rockettes, i got out of bed and started thanksgiving day preparations.

my sister and i exchanged several phone calls, coordinating the details of today's main event. around noontime she brought over the turkey, which had been defrosting and marinating at the cafe the past few days. i moved the 12 lbs. turkey onto a roasting rack inside an aluminum baking tray. at 1:30 the turkey went into the oven at 325 degrees, and a little bit after 3 hours, the disposable turkey thermometer that i had embedded into the breast meat popped up its red indicator button alerting me to the turkey's readiness. while i was waiting for that to happen, i was cleaning the house a bit, doing some light dusting and vacuuming, moving the dining room table to a more central location. i wasn't sure who was going to make it so i set up the table for 6 people.

around 5pm my sister arrived with my aunt and suhan. i thought my great uncle was going to come as well but he decided to stay home and rest. the next 30 minutes was spent assembling the feast, with 12 different dishes of food, and 3 different kinds of dessert (flan, pumpkin pie, tiramisu). the turkey was cooked just right, but a bit salty (my sister revealed that she had added more salt to the marinade). after the first 2 turkey roll-ups (we eat our turkey peking duck style), i was already full and felt sleepy (this had nothing to do with the turkey, i always feel sleepy during big meals). i pushed on, until i ate so much i felt like i was going to burst and i was feeling some mild stomach cramps. everyone retired to the living room to watch some smallville, then back to the kitchen to clean up. they ended up bringing must of the stuff back with them, leaving me with some leftover turkey (they even took the turkey carcass, to make soup).

after they left around 8:30, i stretched out on the couch, watching television. it didn't take too long before i fell asleep, waking up around 3am, brushing my teeth, then crawling into the guest bedroom to sleep (no particular room, i just like to switch it up once in a while). no longer drowsy, i got back up to post this entry.