Yesterday our family Thanksgiving fest finally happened. All the kids and grandkids and even Aunt Sam arrived, and the spread slowly took shape. Fried turkey with Chris’ cornbread dressing. Corn casserole and a key lime pie from Sam. A big spiral ham and numerous sides, courtesy of April (she brought the bacon dish with a few brussels sprouts mixed in). Twice baked potatoes and sweet potatoes from Christina. An apple pie and a lot of kitchen handiwork from Christi. All served to keep Chris out of the kitchen and off her feet as much as was humanly possible. Not completely, mind you. That would have been asking the impossible. Chris was NOT going to be completely banned from her kitchen on a Thanksgiving Day. All in all, the food was fabulous, as usual. Chris did pitch in to clean the kitchen – a little. Christi was on the spot for the most part, so Chris’ contribution could still remain minimal. I think the balance afforded by our girls let Chris feel like she was doing her part. Well, at least a part of her part.
After
lunch the older kiddos decided to walk over to the elementary school and then the
junior high school nearby to scout out a site for the Turkey Bowl. Word got back to us that the junior high had
just the perfect field for us to set up.
In fact, after due consideration of projected weather conditions for
today (100% chance of rain), the rest of us decided to make a league
front office decision and change game day.
We piled into a few cars and drove on over. They weren’t kidding. The practice field was not fenced off in any
way, and it even had a goal post. I saw
Caleb use his soccer prowess to kick a few field goals as we arrived. We quickly picked teams, Captains Caleb and
Josiah. As we began to line up for the first
play, I asked Zak to toss me the ball. I
grabbed it in a fabulous catch, turned toward what would be our goal at the far
end of the field and began slowly walking in that direction, to the puzzled
faces of my teammates and my opponents.
About halfway there, I picked up speed, and the old man raced 99 yards
for the first touchdown of the game. OK. OK. It
was a little sneaky, but this was a Turkey Bowl clash, was it not?
Now,
early in the contest, unbeknownst to most of us, young Micah was stricken with
a malady so horrific that it still pains me to speak of it. His play early on was a little boring. Catch a pass here. Bat down a pass there. Nothing spectacular, by any means. But then it happened. Somehow, some way, he was bitten on the
knuckles. Two very distinct toothmarks
appeared. And from that time on he was …
unstoppable. The knuckles seemed to take
over his very existence. Micah was there,
yet he was there no longer. For the injured
knuckles had become Zombie Knuckles. And
everybody knows that Zombie Knuckles set free are … unstoppable. The Knuckles raced from the far side of the
field to catch up to and stop a sure touchdown run not once but no less than
four times. But the ultimate expression
of the Knuckle prowess came on a somewhat errant pass in his general
direction. The Knuckles dove crazily into
the air, arms and legs flailing but Zombie Knuckles focused in their
flights. And sure enough, when the body
hit the ground, the Zombie Knuckles grasped the football tightly in their
grasp. It was awe-inspiring. So much so that we were forced to award the
post-game trophy to none other than … No, not the remarkable 68-year-old QB. Instead the award went to Micah’s Zombie
Knuckles. Congratulations, guys.
Oh,
and for those of you who are interested, there is a slight chance of a game two
this afternoon, but watch the weather. I
feel confident that any remote sign of wetness will result in the front office calling
the game.
Numbers
6:24-26 says, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine
on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you
peace.”
Father,
thank you for the great weather we had to play football. Thanks for the great food. And thanks for all the help everyone has been
in seeing to it that Chris takes it easy.
Amen.
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