Either we all overindulged in rich foods, or we are suffering the effects of a virus... the Circus family has been down for the count since 10 o'clock, Thanksgiving night.

The good news/bad news is that we had to cancel our visit with the inlaws. There was no way we could have made the trip, but it's still disappointing for everyone (and I'm sure my MIL thinks I'm LYING to avoid the trip, even though I'M NOT.) Alas, we will reschedule.

Anyway, we arrived at my parents' house for Thanksgiving at 1pm on Thursday. My oldest had stayed overnight the night before to help set up, and we all were in good spirits. The turkey was taking longer than expected, and we all had some (more) wine while we waited.

Fed up with waiting, my daughter began to whine. (Heh. We should have given her some wine with her whine.) "When is the food going to be done? I'm starving!"

We offered her some snacks, and she decided to go the tragic, starved, neglected child route and declared herself not hungry, in fact, she wouldn't eat, not a bite, no not her, not this Thanksgiving, not ever. What can I say, we have a dramatic streak in this family.

I began to make some sympathetic noises towards my drama-queen child, when my mother decided she wasn't about to listen to the baloney.

(Remember, we'd all had a couple of glasses of wine.)

"Young lady! You will sit at the dinner table, and if you don't want to eat the food, that's fine. We will cut your throat open and the food can fall right out of your neck onto the floor. But you will sit at the table with the family and ENJOY THE MEAL."

Whoa. Grandma is hardcore. Don't even think about ruining the holiday with your whining.

There was a moment of stunned silence as we all processed what had been said. Then we started laughing hysterically. My daughter skipped off into the other room, oblivious.

At dinner, we kept finding excuses to work "I'll cut your throat" into conversation. I think someone said "I'm glad Mom doesn't have any good knives" as we did our most-thankful-for rounds of the table. Good fun, people.

Apparently, this same impulse must live at my core, too.

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