LS #67, Karen's Turkey Day

As you may have noticed I've been doing a lot of Little Sister books with Seth's parents in them because I was wondering about them and wondering, like, if Seth is close to them and if he's an only child and whether they were disappointed when he left the farm. Naturally these questions are not fully answered in books aimed at 6 year olds, which is cool with me, because I can try to read between the lines and make up my own little back story for Seth and his parents.

Karen arrives at the Little House for November and is told that Mommy and Seth have made reservations to stay at a hotel in New York City for Thanksgiving, and they will be able to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from their hotel windows. Karen is like OH SHIT YES THIS IS AWESOME and I'm like "You've got to be kidding me, this shit again??"

Here's the cover. There's a scene in this book that wasn't even interesting enough to make it into my recap where Karen's class at school makes decorations for the old folks' home. This is Karen and Ricky with their decorations. I kind of dig Karen's vest.

Seth has been working late a lot and he has also been getting a lot of calls from his parents. Grandad can't work because of the heart attack he had in book 63 and he and Granny are bored and lonely. Mommy and Seth try hard to convince Granny and Grandad to come for a visit, but Granny and Grandad are resistant. They don't know anyone in Stoneybrook, after all, and as Seth points out they've lived on their farm for four decades. I wonder how old Seth is. I wonder if the farm is not the first place Granny and Grandad lived after they got married, because they seem older than early/mid 60s to me.

Finally, Seth convinces his parents to come visit, not just for Thanksgiving but to stay until the beginning of January. Karen is very excited for this visit. She helps Mommy transform the den into a guest bedroom for Granny and Grandad. They stayed in the upstairs guest room last time but Mommy says Grandad isn't well enough to climb the stairs this time. I think this is the first mention ever of the Little House having a guest bedroom. That makes four bedrooms upstairs, and downstairs has the den/office space. That's really not what I picture when I think of a little house, although I suppose Karen is comparing it to Watson's Real! Live! Mansion! At any rate, they continue to prep the den to be the guest room. Seth gives their old sofa to the Salvation Army and gets a used sofa bed from somewhere. I don't know why, if they already had a guest room, they didn't just move the bed downstairs for the month and a half Granny and Grandad would be there. I just called and asked and my mom said there was no way she would sleep on a sofa bed for six weeks, and she is not as old as Seth's parents, either. Seth brings two tables from work to put in the room, and Andrew draws a turkey and glues it to a popsicle stick for decor. Karen adds a string of construction paper pumpkins.

The family picks up Granny and Grandad at the airport. It looks like Granny cut her hair dramatically shorter than last time we saw her, but no mention of it is made in the text. I looked at the picture of her from #10 and I guess her hair is under a handkerchief, so it could have already been short. I don't know why I thought it was in a bun. Maybe it was an illustration I didn't scan. Grandad looks older and more frail than Karen remembers, and Granny and Grandad announce that they will not be going to New York City with the family. They will for some reason, having flown halfway across the country, make themselves Thanksgiving dinner in their son's home while he is out of town. Lisa and Seth are like "Suit yourselves."

One day Karen comes home from school and shows Grandad her schoolwork and they go for a walk around the neighborhood and it's nice, but the next day, when Karen comes home from school, Grandad yells at her not to brag about her schoolwork and not to run around in the house. Karen goes in her room and cries and Granny comes and explains that Grandad is sick and not used to children and didn't mean to hurt her feelings. Karen understands.

Seth keeps having late nights and after some discussion, Lisa decides she will go to work helping him out in his shop. Granny will take care of the house. Grandad will help where he can, considering he's still weak and sick. Ha ha, just kidding, nobody gives a shit how he feels, he's in charge of watching the children.

Grandad watches Karen and Andrew because Granny is soooo busy all the time running errands. I don't understand how this can be because it's not like Lisa had to leave the kids with a babysitter every night to run the trillions of errands that keep the little house running smoothly. I think it's mostly for plot purposes so that Karen and Andrew can spend some time with Grandad. He plays quiet games with them and makes them chips and cheese in the microwave.

Two days before Thanksgiving, Lisa and Seth decide that they are going to cancel their plans and stay home with Granny and Grandad. Karen is bitterly disappointed. I'm like "Yup, this shit again." I added a tag for the parade because this has to be at least the fourth time we've seen this exact plot and I know of at least two more upcoming.

Karen and Granny go to the supermarket but because it's two days before Thanksgiving, the store is sold out of almost everything. There isn't even a turkey they can buy. Granny decides to serve chicken wings instead. They also buy some canned goods and frozen pumpkin pies. I think this is probably the most disappointing part of the whole thing, because if Lisa and Seth had canceled their plans earlier instead of at the last minute, I bet Granny would have made an amazing dinner.

Nancy tells Karen that her family is not visiting their relatives after all so Lisa invites the Dawes family to eat chicken wings with them for Thanksgiving and they accept.

The day before Thanksgiving, Karen rounds up the neighborhood kids and makes them practice being in a parade. Thanksgiving morning, she watches the Macy's parade on TV, then goes outside and marches with her friends. Bobby's father videotapes it for all the parents.

Here is what I wore to lead the parade: red tights, blue shorts, white T-shirt, jean jacket, and a pair of Granny's white gloves. I put one of Nancy's party hats on my head. And ZI draped a banner over my shoulder. It said Happy Thanksgiving inside a beautiful glitter border.

I could totally picture Claudia wearing the exact same outfit. Here it is in all its glory:

Andrew is dressed up as a Pilgrim. Some other neighbor kid is dressed up as a pirate, which has nothing to do with Thanksgiving but the kids were trying to copy the Macy's parade which has a lot of characters unrelated to the holiday.

Karen's family and Nancy's family have a lovely and fun Thanksgiving day together. Grandad says he is glad to be with his family, even though he had to leave his farm, and Karen is glad that Granny and Grandad have come to visit her family.

This book has a couple of cute scenes but mostly it is boring and the recycling of the we're-going-to-see-the-parade-oh-wait-we-aren't plotline makes my score a 3/10.

Foods eaten in this book: hamburger, mashed potatoes, green beans, Krispy Krunchy cereal, peanut butter and jelly on crackers, crackers, cheese, sliced apples, grape juice, meatballs, spaghetti, corn chips with melted cheese, fresh squeezed lemonade, vegetable lasagna, salad, chicken wings, canned cranberry sauce, canned lima beans, canned sweet potatoes, stove top stuffing, pumpkin pie, chocolate chip cookies, vegetable soup, leftovers.