I love Thanksgiving. Of course, who doesn't? The only people I know who don't enjoy Thanksgiving are Canadians, and I think we can all agree they're a bunch of godless heathen.

This year our Thanksgiving extravaganza involved driving down to the Outer Banks (the beaches of North Carolina) for a week of eating, drinking, and lounging about in hot tubs. My parents go down almost every year, but this was the first time Sarah and I had made the trip in a while.

My father takes Thanksgiving very seriously; it is his favorite holiday. He enjoys Christmas about equally, but I think he feels particularly moved that one day a year is dedicated to nothing but preparing and eating a massive feast without distractions such as church services or gifts. (This is a man that detailed a list of his favorite foods over breakfast; 4 of the top 10 were varieties of pie.)

My mother cooked up a truly magnificent repast, consisting of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, Copes' corn, broccoli, and God knows what else I forgot. If I'd had any sense, I'd've taken pictures of my plate (like my uncles do). It was piled 3-4" high with food, and lasted me about 3 minutes. (I could've probably eaten it faster, but I had to pause to drink 3 or 4 glasses of wine.)

I, of course, gained 12 pounds. In one week. That's 5% of my mass. If I did that every week I would double in size in just over 3 months. Why can't I lose 5% of my mass in one week? Well, I guess I could, but I'd like to avoid chemotherapy unless I actually had cancer.

I could write endlessly about the trip, but I think it's easier and more amusing to share some pictures. So here are some photos from the entire month of November (a very good month, it was a very good month):

http://www.matthearn.com/November2003/

Enjoy!