It's kind of a glum holiday. Since I've never been part of the "fly home for Thanksgiving" crowd – always being close enough to drive, or in the last several years in Milwaukee, just jump on the "10" bus outside my apartment, since we always have Thanksgiving at my Aunt and Uncle's in Milwaukee – I forgot the basic wisdom of buying a plane ticket early. I even looked up the prices on my iPhone when I was visiting my sister in the middle of October, and was still able to find something in the mid $200s, but I wasn't prepared to buy in that moment, wanting to check on a bit of work scheduling back in New Orleans, first. I only then remembered to try to buy a ticket sometime within the last two weeks, once prices were up in the $500+ range, and everyone in my family – thrifty people that we are – thought that was too silly for four days of quick visiting.

But I'm beginning to regret it. Maybe a few hundred extra would be the proper Stupid Tax. I don't think I've missed Thanksgiving in 14 years, now, since when I had to work at Holy Cross House in a third-shift position. And even then I still had the comforts of a girlfriend also stuck in town because of the costs of transport, and a friendly choir director who opened up his house for any and all Folkheads stuck at Notre Dame for Thanksgiving dinner. Yowza: what a while ago that's been: Jess barely a teen and Josh far from becoming "Br. Dismas" at that point. Memories.

So, I chatted with Mom for a while last night, sitting on the porch of my house in New Orleans, in the 70ºF pleasant evening air, feeling how lame my non-plans sounded as I described probably having a tuna salad sandwich for dinner tomorrow night rather than the turkey with all the fixin's. (There's no other night of the year that I so look forward to real mashed potatoes and green bean casserole (with the dried onions on top).) I just have to hold tight and look forward to seeing everyone in the extended Sweeney clan on Christmas Eve, provided that the Illinois contingent is wiped out by the weather for the third year in a row.

So, kind of a dull day. Time to grab that tuna and start looking forward to Christmas.