“Skin tones look best against blue,” said David. We’d gotten onto the topic of color theory. It was inspired by the acrobatics being performed on screen by iTunes, my mp3 player, as it responded to the eclectic mix of jazz, vocal, and celtic I’d thrown together for the day. The screen was showing a rich field of blue mixed with intense amber patches. “But blue is too monotonous so they usually mix it with amber,” he continued. “It’s a complementary color to blue.” He’s right. On screen they were wonderful and I do know that I see that color combination a lot.

David is the partner of Paul, one of my oldest friends and the only one of two I kept since high school. I’d’ve kept three, but we can’t find Ned anywhere. Paul and David are one of those couples that seem to completely complement each other. Paul is blue to David’s amber. And they are just wonderful with Jack. Since they’ve left, Jack’s still talking about them. He announced to us as we sat by the fire trying to work up the energy to go up to bed, “Jack love fire. And Paul. And David. And Mommy. And Daddy too.”

Dinner was just fantastic. The turkey, a 12 pound free range, non-frozen bird, was perfectly juicy and tasty (if alarmingly pink), the maple mashed sweet potatoes, a new recipe I was trying, were excellent. The stuffing was amazing and I am now a full convert to putting it in the turkey rather than making it on the side. And the canned cranberry sauce, a requirement with us, remained true to its gelatinous goodness. And our favorite recipe, pumpkin curry soup, came out just right. On top of all that, the wine (all of it, and there was a lot) was just delicious. I’m a new convert to Yellow Dog Shiraz. The mashed potatoes were a bit of a disaster. Most of the potatoes went down the drain through the strainer and what was left we all agreed should not be considered food.

Jack, who has been watching a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving for days, was all hot and bothered to say grace. So, we all sat down and I told Jack it was time to say grace. He sat up nice and tall in his booster seat and announced “GRACE!” And we ate.

We never ate the pumpkin pie. Paul and David, who have a 50 minute drive home had to leave. It’s just as well. Ann and I could not keep our eyes open and still had to get Jack to bed, no small feat. So, they left and we took a look into the kitchen to put food in the fridge and leave the mess for the morning.

Ann looked down at the huge spot where I spilled the pumpkin pie filling as I was getting the pie into the oven. “It’s amber,” I told her. “It complements the blue rug perfectly.”