T-3 and counting

My parents and nephew are due to land at JFK in a couple of hours for a Thanksgiving visit. I'm so excited, it's my nephew's first visit to NYC. His parents haven't let him visit until now because "New York is too dangerous." This despite the fact that they have never visited the place, our parents visit every year and I have lived here coming up on 10-years without incident. A friend of my sister's father-in-law visited in the early 90s and didn't feel very safe and that was all my sister needed to hear to form an opinion.

"You can go when you are a teenager," she told my nephew. He turned 13 in May and has been nagging her ever since.

Fresh Direct delivered our Thanksgiving dinner an hour ago. I don't cook, but I am a dab hand at reheating. I'd planned to go to a restaurant, but my mother was insistent that we have Thanksgiving dinner at my place. "It will be fun, we can have a small party. I thought we could get crackers," she said and I've bought us each a gift to unwrap."

"It's Thanksgiving mother not Christmas," I told her "you don't buy gifts for Thanksgiving and Christmas crackers are a British thing."

"No crackers?" She was appalled. "Oh well we're having gifts."

Clearly my mother wants two Christmases this year.

Speaking of Christmassy things I wonder how many Betty's fruit cakes she's brought with her this time. The record number of fruitcakes brought across the Atlantic is three. Three!!! Plus a Battenburg cake, a packet of 3 walnut whips, 6 creme eggs (proper Cadbury ones not Hershey ones. Eugh!!) and 4 tins of Heinz baked beans with mini pork sausages. I wonder what they thought when they x-rayed her bags at the airport.

"Three fruitcakes and a Battenburg?" I asked

"I bought them for you" she exclaimed.

"When do I ever eat fruitcake? Or marzipan?" I pointed out.

"Oh that's true. Oh well, all the more for me."

God forbid she goes a week without a slice of fruitcake.

I can't wait for them to get here :-)

Update: They've arrived with....

1 large Toblerone

2x3packs of Walnut Whips (scrumptious)

1 tin of Walkers assorted scottish shortbread

3 boxes of Thorntons chocolates (3 boxes!!!!)

1 tin of Betty's shortbread cookies

2 bottles of champagne (oooh)

1 box of Yorkshire pudding mix

8 mini bags of cashew nuts (Why? Cashews are widely available in America!!)

Tea bags

1 foil wrapped large slice of fruit cake (for my mother)

Prawn cocktails crisps

6 cherry bakewell tarts

6 mince pies

I'm really not sure what goes through their minds when they pack.