Translation Tuesday: Commandeer

Today’s word for translation: commandeer. According to the modern source of all knowledge, Google, this means:

1. Officially take possession or control of (something).
2. Take possession of (something) without authority.

What does this have to do with life in the South? Nothing really. Why am I using it as the word for today? Because commandeer is totally what I did to the family Thanksgiving holiday last week. Call me General Gobble Gobble.

It all started innocently enough, my Dad told me to make a couple side dishes for dinner and then it spun a little bit out of control. Next I was pushed into all side dishes, and then my Aunts were calling me and asking what they could bring, and then I was telling my Dad all the things he would be responsible for. Pretty soon I was sending off emails and text messages with detailed timelines of the day, coordinating who would arrive when, who was bringing what, who and how we were going to bring my Nana to the house from the nursing home. The moment I realized I had completely taken over? I was writing out my grocery list to go buy all of Thanksgiving food and the note pad I was writing on… the header says “I’m in Charge Here.” 🙂

Personally, I think most of this has to do with the fact that on the Meyers-Briggs scale of personality types, I am a total J and everyone else in my family is a total P. Google it. In short this breaks down to the fact that I am ridiculously over-organized and like to be in control, whereas the rest of my family is not the most organized and tend to go with the flow. So, I like a plan (preferably one that is color-coded and in chronological order) sue me.

Thus, I commandeered Thanksgiving 2012. And minus the drama of trying to get an 87-yearold in a wheelchair into a non-accessible house, it went pretty well. Recipes for the corn casserole, chocolate chip pie and mashed potatoes I made coming later. Anyone else have their own Thanksgiving general?