Thanks
As a way of giving back, my husband Jeff spearheaded the Yountville Community Thanksgiving. He opted for pick-up or delivery again this year to keep everyone safe. Phat Ankle performed at the outdoor, drive-through pick-up, entertaining the parade of hungry bellies driving past to pick up their holiday meals. When the day was said and done, the event fed over 130 community members.
Porter, a neighborhood high school Freshman, jammed with us on his guitar for the day. He has been playing since 6th grade and just jumped in, without ever rehearsing with us. Pretty impressive. He now has a Phat Ankle t-shirt.
- We Will Rock You, Queen
- Thriller, Michael Jackson
- Under the Sea, the crab Sebastian in The Little Mermaid
- The Lion Sleeps Tonight, again Disney
- Let’s Get Loud, J Lo
- In The Mood, Glen Miller
- We Are Family, Sister Sledge
- Tequila, well, I’d suspect tequila, no?
- Danke Shoen, Wayne Newton
I played accordion on all songs except Danke Schoen, which was my debut as a vocalist. I have a youthful fondness for this song. In my early 20s, I was a bartender at a club. Wayne owned the building. Two a.m., when the lights came on, we’d play this song, LOUD, to move the people along, off the floor, and out the door. In nostalgic form, we made it our closing number.
The pick-up event wrapped up around 2 pm and Jeff and I made it back to our home to host our own dinner with close family and close friends. I had ordered a nice heritage bird from The Fatted Calf, raised in Kansas on the Good Shepherd Poultry Ranch.
To ease the stress, I outsourced all the sides to guests and just focused on the turkey, stuffing, and gravy. I just gave them the category and let them riff on Thanksgiving classics. One person was assigned “white potato”, one got “sweet potato”, one got “green vegetable”… you get the idea. It was akin to unwrapping presents to see what arrived at our Thanksgiving table.
