"This is gonna be too much food," My mother says from beside me.

The four of us, Lorelai, Rory, my mum and I sat at  a table in Luke's Diner as we planned out how we're gonna fit in four Thanksgiving meals in one day.

Lorelai looked at her with a gasp. "It is not," she protested. "This is what we've been training for our while lives!"

"You've been training us to die of diabetes at the age of thirty?" Rory asked with a grimace.

I cross my legs together as I sip on my coffee. "It's a good way to go," I retorted as Lorelai pointed her fork at me.

"Exactly sister," she said with a wink. "Besides, we can't bail on any of them," Lorleai aimed that last part at my mother.

"Yeah you're right," My mum groaned as she pushed around whatever food she had on her plate. "Maybe we should not eat until tomorrow," she suggested.

All movement ceased at the table as we looked at her in disbelief. Not eat? Until tomorrow? We all suddenly burst out laughing at her ridiculous joke.

"You're hilarious," Lorelai said in between fits of giggles. Rory shook her head at those two and stuffed some more food in her mouth.

"I'm a regular Shecky Greene," my mum said between forkfuls of egg.

~~~

"First stop of the day?" Rory asked from beside me as the four of us walked for our first thanksgiving meal of the day. The trees that were littered around Stars Hollow had turned into the usual orange and red of fall.

Pulling my coat tighter around my body I answered her. "The Kim's." I answer her as we look both ways before crossing the street.

"Where we will have a lot of torfukey," my mum said from in front of us where she walked with Lorelai.

"I wonder how Lane survives in this house," Lorelai voiced out once we stopped at our first destination.

Lane opens the door for us with a sad smile. "It's not without great difficulty," she says confusing all of us. She had her usual short hair in a braid that barely scrapped the tip of her shoulder.

I furrow my eyebrows at her. "You heard that?" I question surprisingly.

"The door was closed," my mum adds pointing toward the now open door. From outside, you could see the rest of the extended Kim's family bustling around inside noisily.

"Living in this house, I learnt when to know if someone's outside the door." Lane tells us quietly, making sure her mother doesn't hear.

"Oh you poor child," Rory and I say in sync before we all enter the house.

~~~

"How do we feel?" I asked everyone as we made our way to the second house for the day, Sookie's. I listen to the satisfying crunch of the dried leaves under my boots as we walked.

"I ate so much torfukey, how do you think I feel?" Lorelai said sarcastically.

"Torfukey-er?" My mum perked up from beside her.

"Sucks to be you guys," I told the two adults as Rory nodded in agreement. "When Mrs Kim wasn't looking, we spat some out into the cup."

"Damn we should've tried that," my mum said to Lorelai in despair. "Our napkin manoeuvre didn't work at all."

Lorelai patted my mums shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry, we never would've come up with that," she told her. "They're the ones going to Ivy League schools after all."

The four us stopped when Sookie's front lawn came into view. There looked like a handful of people who stood seldom with drinks in their hands while Sookie sat on a picnic table by herself with a pile of vegetables in font of her.

"Is that a deep fryer?" I asked with a frown on my face.

"It's either that or a really small bathtub," Rory says as we make our way over to Sookie who looked like she was having a mental break down.

"My moneys on the bathtub," Lorelai commented before greeting Sookie. "Hey! Happy Thanksgiving!" She said for all of us.

The rest of us tried to squeeze into the picnic table as Sookie spoke. "Oh thank god," she let out a sigh of relief. "Civilisation has arrived."

My mum sat down next to her and put an around her shoulders comfortingly. "What's wrong?"

"Do you not see what's going on there?" Sookie gestures over to the deep fryer with a wild look.
"That's a vat of boiling oil."

"Wow, where's Quasimodo," Lorelai joked as Sookie turned her attention back with a incredulous look.

"This is not a joking matter," She chided as she wrapped her red flannel coat around herself tighter.

I look over to see Jackson setting some stuff up with the people around him cheering him on. "What's it for?" I asked.

"They're gonna put a lot of soap in them and make a hot tub," Lorelai joked again with a grin on her face.

"Lorelai!" Sookie chided once more. "It's for the turkey! My beautiful, expensive and organically grown turkey!"

My mum stopped her soothing movements around Sookie's shoulders for a second. "A turkey?" She repeated.

"Yes!" Sookie exclaimed frantically. "And don't stop doing you're arm movement thingy, it feels really good." She tells my mother with a look towards her arm.

"Right, sorry." My mum said with an obedient nod.

After that Sookie told us how she allowed Jackson to cook the turkey, thinking he was just gonna stick it in the oven. It ended with her coming back home to 15 gallons of peanut oil and him saying he's gonna deep fry a turkey.

"This will be fun," I whispered in Rory's ear, eager to see what happens next.

~~~

"Round three, how are we feeling everyone?" Rory asked as we climbed up the steps to Luke's diner.

"Dead," I tell her as I open the door to Luke's for everyone before I go in.

My mum patted my shoulder before agreeing with me. "Glad to see we're on the same page for once."

As we entered the diner, Luke greeted us and 'Happy Thanksgivings' went all around before pointing out which table was ours. Luke left to grab the food as everyone sat down at the table.

As I was about to sit down I saw Jess come out from behind the curtain. Dressed in a black sweater and a pair of jeans I must say he looks really good in black. When he saw me he walked over to the table and gave me a light kiss.

"Hey," he said with a smile as I greeted him back. He turns towards everyone else at the table with an awkward smile. "Hi," he said again.

"Hey," my mum replied with a small smile. Over time, I had managed to get the two to be nice enough to each other that I didn't want to immediately strangle them both. "Will you be joining us?"

"Uh, sure." Jess says with a look towards me. "If that's okay with you," he politely looked toward the two Gilmores who just nodded their head.

We all took out seats at the table just as Caesar and Luke came back with two trays worth of food. He plated the food in front of each of us, just as Jess spoke up again.

"God, I'm starving." He said from beside me as he took a seat.

Luke put his plate in front of him. "You could've eaten just now." The rest of us just watched this exchange in amusement.

Jess looked at him is disbelief. "You kept telling me not to eat," he repeated.

"I did not," Luke argues back with a frown.

Jess shakes his head at Luke. "You said we had to wait for them."

"You didn't have to wait for us," Lorelai said as Luke took a seat beside her.

"I wasn't waiting for you," Luke said even though almost everyone at the table knew he was lying. "It just worked out this way."

"Right," Jess said unconvinced.

Rory, at one end of the table looks up at Luke. "Looks great," She complimented with a smile. Everyone took that as a signal to delve into their food.

But before anyone could get anything into their mouths Luke stopped us. "Whoa, wait a minute." He tells us as we all put down our cutleries. "Shouldn't we say thanks?"

My mum from the other end of the table opposite Rory speaks up with a confused look. "Give thanks for what?"

Luke took a breath before speaking. "Well you know, that we're not native Americans who got their lands stolen in exchange for smallpox infested blankets?"

"Amen," Lorelai said in attempt to dismiss Luke's idea. Giving thanks? Pfft, we're here for the food.

Everyone nodded in agreement as Luke just sighed disappointedly. "Eat up ya disgraces," he comments as everyone begins to eat.

~~~

My mum and I stood in front of my grandparents house as we prepare ourselves for our forth thanksgiving meal. My grandparents were supposed to leave for London a few days ago but decided to say on for thanksgiving. So they'd be heading back tomorrow.

"Hey, Harriet." I smiled at her as she took our coats. She didn't say anything, just smiled at me softly.

"We're in the dining room!" I heard my grandfather call out as we made our way towards them.

My grandmother sat at the left side of the table with a smile on her face when she saw us walk in. She was more dressed up than I expected since only the two of us were here.

"Come sit down," she says gesturing towards the two empty chairs.

"You're running a bit late," my grandfather commented as we took our seats. "We were almost gonna eat without you two." He explained why they were already seated at the table instead of the living room like they usually would.

As my grandfather carved the turkey the rest of us had to make small talk. It's not that I don't like my grandmother, I just absolutely hate small talk. What about big talk? People always forget about that. So it would explain why I was slightly less than interested in the conversation.

If there was one thing I was thankful for today, it would be when we started eating. You didn't have to make small talk when you eat. But of course my grandmother wanted to keep it up.

"So how are your applications going?" She asked me with her steel silverware in her hand.

"It's going fine, I finished submitting all of them a few weeks ago." I tell her with a nod of my head.

"Including Cambridge and Oxford?" My grandfather asked from the head of the table with an implying glance toward me. I nod my head to answer his question, not wanting to talk with my mouthful. "Very good," he said and went back to his meal.

My mother suddenly spoke up as she placed her fork and knife down on the table. "But she's not going," she clarified to them with a nervous smile.

"And why not?" My grandmother asked accusingly. "Because of you?" She stared at my mother.

"It's because she's going to Yale," my mother tells them confidently. Now didn't exactly seem like the right time to tell her I've been thinking about changing my mind.

"The acceptance letters aren't in yet," my grandfather argues with a pleased look. "She probably won't even get in there."

"Dad!" My mother exclaim angrily at his lack of faith in me. His words didn't hurt me much because I knew he was right. But what made it sting was the fact that it was coming from him. The person who always told me I was so smart when I talked to him about the books I read.

My grandmother turned to him with a look of astonishment on her face. "Edward, what-" she couldn't even finish her sentence.

"It's true!" He says, "At least if she talks to the Deans she'll get in! I know them, I am an alumni at Oxford and Rosalind went to Cambridge." He explains to my mother who just sat there staring at him with a look of disbelief.

My mum turns to me. "Get your coat we're leaving," she says as she throws her napkin on the table.

However, before she could her up out of her seat I speak up. "Mum it's fine," I tell her with a pleading look. "Why don't we just finish dinner, please?"

"Listen to your daughter, Maria." My grandfather says as if he had nothing to do with her wanting to leave.

Points a finger in her husbands direction, my grandmother glared at him. "I don't want to hear a word from you for the rest of the night." She scolded, shocking everyone at the table. He simply looked down at his plate and began to eat silently.

"I'll stay," my mother announced as she put her napkin back on her lap. "Just to tell you that Cassie is an amazing student. She will get into Yale, because it's what we've been working towards for so many years. No one is gonna tell her she can't do it and it's certainly not gonna be form her own grandfather." My mum said sternly as he avoided her gaze.

I felt myself smile softly at my mothers words. She stuck up for me to her own father, that's what a mother does. She sent a tiny smirk my way with a nod of her head. Her way of showing that she meant every word she said.