thank-ful (adj.): feeling or expressing gratitude; appreciative.

I know it's not Thanksgiving yet, but I feel overcome by the holiday spirit.  This is my hands-down, no contest FAVORITE time of the year.  There is one thing in particular, though, that I can't wait for.  It's the best holiday of the holiday season, and last year I didn't get to spend it in my typical fashion.  This year... I'll be back.

Yes, I'm talking about Thanksgiving Eve, the single greatest night to be at home of the whole year.  Why?  If you don't know, you've clearly never been to the Fiorillo house for Thanksgiving Eve and the festivities that follow it.  Let me give you an idea of how it all goes down:

1. Freshly poured draft beers in the kitchen.  My friends and I are reunited, and we begin with basic conversation about what is happening in our life.
2. The pitchers come out.  We begin to play one of the many card games that we have made up over the course of our friendship, games that no one else understands or knows the rules for.  This gives us an advantage because we can change the rules at will.  My favorite is the Gauntlet.
3. The computer comes out.  We watch YouTube videos that we have been saving to show each other the entire year.  As the YouTube videos run out, we begin to play the party music.  And then...
4. We get the woofer.  I don't know what a woofer does besides make our music way louder.
5. Downtown.  We hop from one end of Market Street to the other, bar to bar, socializing with people we went to elementary, middle, and high school with.  After every person we talk to, we immediately reassure ourselves that we are much, MUCH cooler than them.
6. The drive home... after my dad picks us up, we inevitably try to convince him to stop by McDonald's to see if it's open (even though we know it's not).  Instead, we end up at the corner gas station with $35 worth of Doritos and salt and vinegar chips.
7. The after-party.  Upon getting home, my dad begins brewing the hot chocolate for the 5K race he organizes in the morning.   By brewing, I mean he heats up gallons of it in our lobster pot on the stove, then carries it to the Gatorade dispenser on the front porch.  On the way out he spills it all over our carpet and porch, which, in the morning, looks as if someone was murdered in our house and then carried out to a stolen car in the driveway.
   
   In the meantime, my friends and I have invited everyone we know back to our house.  The party gets broken up when mom comes downstairs and discovers the hot chocolate stains and the thirty-plus people in our living room... whoops.
8. The morning hangover.  Some of the brave ones actually make it to the 5K and run in it without vomiting on the finish line.  Some are not so lucky.
9. The free bagels!!  And the high school kids.  My father invites all the high school runners over to our house for a free breakfast after the race.  This is great and not great at the same time.  It's great if you can clean yourself up enough to take advantage of the free Wegman's bagels.  It's not great if you're my brother's best friend and over forty high school runners see you passed out on our couch in your boxers.
10. Oiling the bag and ruining the carpet.  Another way my dad ruins the holiday for my mom is his method for making Thanksgiving turkey.  The trick is to cook it inside a paper bag soaked in olive oil.  The tricky part of the trick is dousing the bag.  My dad likes to measure tasks in the number of beers you need to drink while getting it done, and cooking a turkey is a 12 beer job.  The result?  Lovely olive oil stains to match the hot chocolate on the carpet.  He gets so sucked into the great conversation that he walks right out into the living room to join it... complete with the oiled up turkey bag.
11. The dinner! Enough said.  We also get to say what we're thankful for, and it's usually something that saved us the night before.

I CAN'T WAIT.