RECORD STORE TALES Part 236: Thanksgiving 2005
Miserable at the record store, and mere weeks away from giving my notice, I still somehow managed to swing Thanksgiving weekend off. The family tradition back then was Thanksgiving at the cottage with my aunt and uncle, grandma and sister. Complicating things for me this Thanksgiving was that I had started dating Jen, the future Mrs. LeBrain. She was alone that weekend, because her parents were spending Thanksgiving in Ottawa. I felt that she was somebody special, and I wanted to somehow have Thanksgiving with her, but also my family. The only catch was that we’d been together less than a month, and she’d never met anybody from my family before. Ever.
As this story is a bit of an indictment against myself, I’ll let her take it from here.
LeBrain told me that his parents and his sister would be staying in this peaceful cabin by the lake. He didn’t tell me about anyone else. It had been a long time since I met a suitor’s parents. A sister too? Well that was uncharted territory to say the least.
As we approached the cottage through the woods, my anxiety started to increase. The car stopped and my heart began beating in my throat as I looked into the cottage’s big front window.
Mike’s mom and dad, sister, and her boyfriend were waiting at the window! So were his aunt, uncle, grandmother, and the disapproving family dog!
After introductions, Mike walked me to his bedroom where I’d be staying while he was sleeping on the couch. The door closed behind me, and what I saw on the wall was a vision to haunt me, and to one day tell our future grandchildren about. It was a gun rack, made with actual deer parts, holding a gun.
“Maybe this online dating thing is a bad idea!”
Gun rack given to me by my Grandfather
It’s only a pellet gun. Happy Thanksgiving, Canada!
mikeladano.com 
Shit! Those are actual deer parts !!
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Yes, you can see why Mrs. LeBrain thought she entered the twilight zone. My grandpa didn’t like it (it tends to rot the wood of any guns you store on it) so he gave it to me.
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Great memory of a “Meet The Parents” moment we all can relate too, with or without deer parts! Thanksgiving in Canada always had a special place for me down here in MI, cuz I would always be able to catch two CFL games on a Monday afternoon, in October, on CBC! Roll, “Pinball”! Now, I have a friend who works for a Canadian company, and he always get another Thanksgiving Day off!
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Nice! One of our guys at work moved down to Mississippi and takes both Thanksgivings off. For me the big bonus of American Thanksgiving is television marathons (yay!) and most of my customers are shut down, so very slow days at work.
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I was once alone for Thanksgiving, when I lived away from my immediate family. My aunt, uncle and cousins (who lived close by) were all going to be out of town, so a co-worker invited me to her big Mexican-American family get-together. The food was amazing, to say the least, both Mexican and traditional American food (turkey and all) and it was a memorable time for me. (They didn’t have any deer hoofs on their walls, though!)
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Deer hoofs do help.
I think I could go for a big Mexican American feast. I’ve never had proper Mexican food anyway. We had a girl from Mexico who worked in our office a couple years ago. She tried a hot sauce from Louisiana, tasted it, and said, “This is nice. This is like…how do you say it?…this is like candy we feed to children in Mexico.” Meanwhile, two or three guys at the table were dripping sweat from their earlobes, the sauce was so hot.
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Yep, they like it hot. Carmen’s mom made green chili sauce by the gallon, and a drop of it would set your mouth on fire!
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That sounds like something! I don’t have a high tolerance for hot sauces, but I like to try them and I’m morbidly fascinated by them.
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Even though I have been in the UK for 27 years, I still make it a point to celebrate Thanksgiving, sometimes several times over the long weekend. Like the Wayne’s World link.
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That’s cool man, long live your traditions! I have no problems with any excuse to have a feast.
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I think Jen left the charger for thr neck massage here .Do you want me to bring it home??? Date: Mon, 14 Oct 2013 07:08:47 +0000 To: don.ladano@sympatico.ca
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Yes she would like it. She has your Blackberry charger by mistake.
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Nice Wayne’s World clip, haha psycho hose beast.
I highly approve of the deer feet gun rack. That is a thing of beauty, man. Utter MAJESTY!
Mrs. LeBrain: I also highly approve of the use of the word ‘suitor.’ It pleased me greatly to see it there.
Happy Canuck Gobble Gobble, everybody!
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Mrs. LeBrain thanks you, that was her word.
My grandfather bought the gun rack from his neighbor who made it. Because it rotted the wood of the guns, he gave it to me. All I had was pellet guns, but a few clothes protected them. It no longer excretes the oils that were causing the wood rot now.
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In Mrs LeBrain’s shoes I’d have been worrying about what happened to the last person lured there by the family …
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Don’t worry. It’s not House of 1000 Corpses. Although my dad has been known to frighten small children.
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Actually, Mike, your grandmother bought that gun rack for your grandfather and he hated it! I have no idea why she bought it, as guns were never allowed in the house when I was young, even toy guns. I don’t think your grandfather ever used it as he had no guns!!! Go figure…..
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Let alone many to necessitate an entire rack! Perhaps if your girlfriend sees a homemade deer gun rack and stays, she’s yours – glad that was the case here! Like this other timeless Wayne’s World advice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxKiZ-6rRQQ
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Ahh so true. I lived by that for years.
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