So we had our annual “Orphans Thanksgiving” for friends who couldn’t spend it with family, though in all honesty our funky little gang feel like family by now. Since moving to L.A., I’ve spent most major holidays with them gathered around the table partaking in yummy food, lively discussion and raucous dancing.
We began early sipping mimosas as Agustin prepped our amazing meal and I prepped film fest entries and followed up on post festival correspondence (no rest for the wicked – not even on a holiday.)
Mid-afternoon we transitioned into hot cranberry toddy accompanied by Agustin’s delectable leek, pear and gruyere tartlets as friends began to trickle in. I wonder what “normal” families discuss around the Thanksgiving table? 
Our topics ranged from favorite porn movie titles (Edward Penis-Hands or Schindler’s Fist?), to which muppet would you be (I’m Janice!) to ideas for a new webisodes series that we keep threatening to shoot. Jeremy entertained us with tales from the shoot of his latest short Back Story.
The meal was a wonderful eclectic mix of traditional Thanksgiving fare including Bryant’s famous squash soup and Agustin’s divine turkey, stuffing and sweet potato mash and more diverse fare such as Circus‘ vegan lasagna. Trader Joe‘s provided a yummy ginger eggnog cake and pumpkin pie, of course.
After, the gang settled in for a rowdy round of Doonesbury - my fave board game which, unbeknownst to our unsuspecting guest was in fact a clever ruse to initiate a brainstorming session for the trippin’ board game for which we hope to make a proto-type this winter. Despite a rocky start, I managed to win by sheer luck, much to the annoyance of players who had actually earned their points. I love that game! We actually came up with some fab ideas and I’m so excited to play our own game next Thanksgiving.
It wouldn’t be a proper Deviant holiday without some dirty dancing which was prompted when Bryant commented that Maria looked like Christina Amphlett of the Divinyls which inevitably led to an impromptu lip synch/dance performance of “I Touch Myself.”
We ended the evening with a tradition begun back in my Sarah Lawrence days when my roommate and I mistook the phallic turkey neck for something else and, horrified to find such a thing inside our bird, abruptly flung it out into the street. 
We now fling the neck every year after everybody’s made a wish for something they hope to be thankful about by next Thanksgiving. The moment 
before the toss is always a fun reflective moment for me, especially this year. Surrounded by good friends, good times and good prospects for our film endeavors, I already feel so thankful for where I’m at. However, it was fun to have greedy thoughts of what more I’d like to add to the mix.
As the evening wound down, I was reminded of my childhood. The “adults’ around me were still engaged in lively debates about films, Polanski, capitalism and the likes as I drifted in and out of consciousness, visions of sugar plums dancing in my happy sleepy head.
yummmy……. thanks for your ideas , i’d love to comply with your weblog as often as i can.possess a wonderful day~~
P.S. The recipe for the vegan lasagna is available for the asking (if I can remember all that went into it). For “rock & rolling” it from three various recipes, the results were far better than I feared might be the case at least one point in the process.
Thanks for once again providing a Thanksgiving home in L.A.. Devi! Agustin, you rule! Thursday was a blast and it was great to hang, play, and generally sate and fete!