Friends-giving 2017: The Wishbone

Puns. I just can't "let go" of them, can I? First Dolloween, and now Friends-giving? Seriously, Elsa? Yes, seriously. This is seriously the first year we're celebrating Thanksgiving after the one time the house almost burned down. And, like any other holiday, our knowledge of it first came from the humans.

***

It was that time of the year again. Christmas was upon the world, and with Christmas came relatives. And with relatives came a feast, complete with a wine-colored tablecloth, flickering candles, and savory smells from the kitchen. But if it was Christmas, then where was the tree?

"I think you're looking too far ahead, Elsa," Loki laughed, watching me mutter under my breath about the nativity and stockings. "It's still November. Have you forgotten another day the humans celebrate during this time?"

I blinked. No, I have an excellent memory. But I didn't remember such hustle and bustle last year. The humans must have spent the time visiting family instead.

Loki didn't answer me on that. Instead, he was too focused on spying with the rest of us. Moana, Anna, Loki, and I were all watching the humans from the upper balcony of the house, which gave you perfect view of the dining room, where all the commotion was going on. Humans ran back and forth, dusting and vacuuming and washing windows like there was no tomorrow.

"It looks like they're preparing for some sort of celebration." Anna remarked.

"Yep. There's a holiday coming up." Loki was delighted with our incompetence.

Moana was brave enough to ask. "What do the humans call this holiday?"
"Thanksgiving," Loki explained. "It's a time for everyone in the family to come together to share good food and give thanks for the year's bounties."
"Thanksgiving..." Moana's brown eyes sparkled with curiosity. I, too, felt the same surge of energy. Her strong fingers curled around the banisters in want. "We should have one."
"The last Thanksgiving I remember celebrating was when the turkey started smoking the oven and we all thought I had to go freeze the fire. Remember that, Loki?"
He glared at me. "It wasn't so funny at the time, Elsa."
"Maybe that's why we didn't celebrate it the year after. But now that the past is behind us..."
"We can have Thanksgiving again." Anna finished.

We periodically had to dart back into the Room She Lives In to avoid humans, and when we came back out again on a certain instance, there was a large lacquered turkey sitting there on the dining room table, ready to carve up and eat.
"Why aren't they throwing that bone away?" Moana asked, pointing to an odd fork-shaped bone one of the humans had apparently pulled from the turkey to put to dry in the sun.
"That's the wishbone," said Loki. "It's tradition for two humans to fight over it whenever it dries out. Each human holds on to one end, and they pull in unison while making a wish. The wishbone breaks, and the person left with the biggest half gets their wish granted. The wishbone originally meant good luck, but it evolved into a Thanksgiving tradition."
"Weird tradition," Anna commented. "It might be fun to do, though."
"The wishbone is for the humans. Unless if they decide not to break it and it gets thrown away. In that case, we can go down and get it ourselves."
None of us bothered to argue with the wait. We were surprised Loki let us do such a thing, and there was no way we were going to change his mind about that.
Later that day, family stopped by and filled the house with talk and laughter. The turkey was served, drinks were poured, and toasts were given to those who needed a good year. Since it was Olaf's finding day, we all stayed up in the Room She Lives In and used her laptop to watch "Frozen". I'm biased when I say I love the movie, but I'd experienced it so many times, and Thanksgiving was something new and exciting. The concept still called to me after family had left and everyone had settled down for bed.
But I wasn't the only one. Just as Moana's character was called to the ocean, our Moana was being called to do something. Something besides passively waiting for the occasion to be over. She knew I was feeling the same way, too. Halfway to sleep, she shook me back into reality halfway through the night.
"Elsa, I can't stop thinking about the wishbone." She whispered.
"It's just an old bone, Moana," I said, trying to muddle my own nerves. "Go back to sleep."
"You think you can make one out of ice if the humans break theirs?"

That wasn't a bad idea. "Sure. But not right now. Tomorrow."
Moana must have been satisfied with my answer, because she didn't even question how I was going to make such a thing out of ice, and instead went back to bed. It was harder for me to do the same. I stayed up most of the night brainstorming different tactics for how to freeze water in such an unusual shape. We just had to hope that the humans weren't going to break theirs.
I guess I was eventually able to get some sleep, because the next morning I was awoken with a whisper. "Go get her. You know what to do." It was Anna's voice, so I wasn't worried.
The sound of little boots on the wooden surface of the dresser stormed towards me, and I felt equally little hands grab my face. "We're making today a perfect day for you," Nessa sang into my ear. "Happy finding day, Elsa."
I sat up, delighted. I'd almost forgotten about my own finding day, but luckily, I had some great friends that wouldn't let me forget.
"You get to decide how the day is spent," said Anna. "So what'll it be? A visit to the computer room library like Loki, or a movie on She's laptop like Olaf?"
So many ideas, only one day to spend doing them all. I wanted to take Steve out for a private lunch, I wanted to have a snowball fight in the living room, I wanted to make a doll-sized birthday cake. But if I was going to get any amount of sleep tonight, there was only one answer I could choose.
"Actually, I was hoping we could get that wishbone."
Anna sighed like she had been expecting my answer. It was a boring one for her. "Moana will want to go with you."
"I know. But don't worry, as soon as we're done, I promise you we'll do something fun."
"Yeah, maybe after, we can raid the garbage for more old bird bones," Nessa griped. "Come on, Elsa, it's your finding day. We should celebrate."
"Breaking a wishbone is celebrating," I insisted. "Where's Moana?"
Anna told me that she was already looking for it, and that the humans had not left so long ago to take their visiting family back to the airport.

And Anna was right. As soon as I entered the kitchen, I saw Moana standing victoriously by the sink, Magneto at her side as always, and Loki watching from the floor, trying to give her directions for a safe path back down to the floor.
As soon as Moana saw me, she smiled and waved the wishbone in the air like a stiff, curving flag. "Hey, Elsa! Look what I got! I heard the humans saying this morning that they were going to throw away the wishbone this year, so now we get to break it!"
"Why are they throwing it away?"
Moana wrinkled her nose, trying to remember. "Something about one of their guests bringing over another turkey. So this wishbone is just an extra. They were going to throw it away."
"So we get to break it, then?"
"Wanna break it now?"
"Yeah," I prepped my battle face by raising my chin and lowering my eyebrows. "It's on."
Moana flashed a battle face back to me, but hers looked more monstrous and threatening. When she saw my shock, she narrowed her eyes smugly and said, "That's my haka. A warrior face used to strike fear into your opponents. I've been showing Magneto how to do one. Show her, lolo."
"Magneto has a permanent haka," I laughed. "Now come on, let's break that wishbone!"
Moana completely ditched Loki's advice and just jumped down from the counter, wishbone in hand. I took the other side in my hands and Loki counted off for us to begin the wishbone tug-of-war.
At first, she was stronger than me, but I was bigger than her. It was a even match, but I was determined to win.
"Give it up, Elsa, you know you can't win!"
"Don't make me use my powers!" I threatened, giggling.
"Then I'll have to use mine!" Moana shot back. Magneto eye's flashed her direction, looking peeved.
"You have powers?" I asked, my guard let down. Moana used this to her advantage as she gave one last enormous pull on the wishbone.
"Powers to defeat you!"
With a popping noise, the wishbone snapped in two, and I was thrown back onto the floor. Moana was left standing with half the wishbone in her hands.

"Did you win?"
"It's broken in two. Completely even halves." Moana lifted my side of the wishbone, which I had dropped on the floor before falling. When she fit the cracked pieces together again, they mirrored each-other perfectly.
"I didn't think that was physically possible." Said Loki.
"It's not physically possible for a doll to have ice and snow powers, either," Moana reminded him. "What did you wish for, Elsa?"
I wrinkled my nose at her indignantly. "I'm not going to tell you. Then it won't come true."
"Oh," Moana closed her mouth quickly. She had probably been preparing to share her wish with everyone. "Does that mean we both get our wish?"
For once, Loki was without a definite answer. "I guess so."
I was slightly disappointed. There was our Thanksgiving fun, gone and done right there in the wishbone. I don't know, I expected something magical to happen, silly as it sounds to say now.
"Hey, isn't it your finding day?" Magneto asked, interrupting my thoughts.
"Yeah, it is. Right after Loki's and Olaf's."
"Congratulations."
"For what?"
"For... I don't know... making it this far?"
"Thanks?"
Finding days, along with romance, made little sense to me. You get rewarded for another year of life, and you impress people by your ability to look good and be nice to them. But here I was, three years old and dating somebody today. The world is a little weird that way.
Loki asked me the day's plan, like I had one. Planning and I were like oil and water, so I told him I didn't know, and he suggested an ice skating rink. Of course, I am always up for any opportunity to use my powers, so I flipped my switch and went over to the living room, ready to release a blast of ice when Steve entered the room.
He nodded a "good morning" to the others, then found me. There was something behind his back, and I knew what that entailed, but this time I was for sure it was a better surprise than a toxic vanilla drink.
"Happy finding day to best girlfriend a guy could have."
I blushed, looking at the floor to hide my face. "Oh, I doubt that. Thank you, though."

Steve smiled, saying nothing, and passed me the thing that he had been hiding. It was a small piece of paper, a letter, actually, with a "To Elsa" on the front, and "you are cordially invited" introduction on the back, in Idina's handwriting. The last time I got one of these, it was an invitation to Anna's house (from the Just Anna blog) but the note was obviously from somebody here if Steve had hand-delivered it.
"What's this?"
"Did you read it?"
"Yeah..."
"Then come on. They want you upstairs." Steve took hold of my arm and I happily obliged as he led me away from the living room and to the stairs.
"Us, too?" Moana called out.
"Yeah, it's for everyone. Idina's treat."
"Idina's treat? I guess it's not a finding day surprise party, then?"
"If you want it to be, then it is. But we figured that this would be more rewarding."
I frowned, trying to read Steve's eyes. Unfortunately, his words nor his eyes gave me any clues. He knew this, too, as he smiled again.
"Be patient, Elsa. You'll find out soon enough."
"I think you know me enough by now to agree that I am the opposite of patient," I said, then got confused when Steve steered me to the right when we got to the upstairs hallway. "Um, She's room is to the left."
"I know."
He stopped me in front of the guest room door instead. The last time I was in here was the conclusion to Moana's Easter egg hunt, but this time things felt different. Maybe it was the wonderful scents wafting over from inside the room.
Not waiting for a "go ahead" from Steve, I jumped up and twisted the handle, the door swinging open in reply.

The first thing I noticed was the overturned shoebox by the guest bed, a placemat set over it as a makeshift tablecloth. The doll-sized porcelain tea set was there, along with the color-changing candles from the one day the power gone out in the humans' house. Paper napkins had been cut into smaller squares to fit our needs, and it appeared everyone had a setting prepared for them. All seventeen of us, and most of them gathered around the hostess. Idina stood at the hand of the "table" smiling proudly and overlooking all the food that had been borrowed or made.
When Idina saw my surprise, she said, "Eet iz Thanksgiving, iz it not? Sit down, we're waiting."
Steve guided me to my place, where I was sandwiched between him and Anna. Moana, Magneto, and Loki soon followed, where they, too, had no idea such a thing was going on, but hurried to get comfortable so that we could dig in. Magneto said a quick blessing over our food, and the silence was gone, interrupting by so much voices talking all at once, all happy, all eager to get some food onto their plates.
"Ah-ah-ah! No food until everyone says what they are thankful for!" Idina demanded.
"Since when was that a rule?" Kristoff muttered, already spreading butter onto his helping of biscuit.
"Since I said so. Why don't you go first, Kristoff?"
"Fine," Kristoff set down his bread, getting serious. "I'm thankful for this food. It smells great, and Anelle and I haven't had any since we left our previous owner's house. When Anelle and I came here in July, we didn't think we'd be welcomed the way we were back out our old home. But every day still feels like we never left."
Anelle looked pleased with her not-brother. "And I'm thankful for this chair you guys gave me. You have no idea how much I appreciate it. Oh. And for the food, too, of course."
Everyone shared similar gratitude. It was definitely a feast to be thankful for, and an unexpected one at that, which made it even better. Once everyone had gone, the first course was passed around: an appetizer of buttermilk biscuits served with your choice of butter or jam. Second course was stuffing or salad, and the big entree was a doll-sized turkey Idina had somehow painted with an authentic scent. For dessert, we had a choice of either applesauce or cranberry jelly. Or both, if you knew how to sneak it past Idina. By the end of the meal, we had been overwhelmed with so many smells that we had hyposmia, something Napoleon taught me that meant a decreased ability to smell things.

When the food had all be taken, nobody really wanted to leave, so we stayed and continued to talk until our voices grew horse. Napoleon spouted more facts, this time about the first Thanksgiving with the pilgrims coming to America; Loki, Nessa, and Elphaba explained the premise of Thor: Ragnarok to Steve; and Idina got showered with compliments on the Thanksgiving feast. Steve made the mistake of mentioning to everyone that it was my finding day, which caused Nessa to hop up on the table and conduct an off-key rendition of her invented song, "Happy Finding Day To You".
The song sounded awful, but it still warmed my heart. "Thanks, guys. I definitely have something to be thankful for this year."
"Is it that bone you've been carrying around all day?"
I'd hardly remembered, much less noticed, that I still had my half of the wishbone with me. "No, I was going to say my all of you as my family and friends-"
"What is that bone for, by the way?" Olaf interrupted.
"It's a wishbone, Olaf," said Moana, stepping in to explain. "It's a Thanksgiving tradition for two people to break the wishbone. Whoever gets the bigger side gets a wish."
Loki was satisfied that some of his information had been retained in someone else.
"But... it doesn't look like anyone has a bigger side at all."
"We know. So we both got to make a wish." Moana passed her half of the wishbone down the table for the others to see. It reached Olaf, and he began to study it like there was something he was missing.
"What did you wish for?" Olaf asked.
Moana twisted one foot around the other. "Well... we're not supposed to say. Or it won't come true."
"Since when was that a rule?" Elphie said, repeating Kristoff from earlier.
Loki glanced Elphaba's way, but said nothing. He caught Moana's eye and shrugged. Guess the rule didn't matter anymore.
"You first, Moana," I injected, picking up on their unspoken language. "What was your wish?"
"I wished for your wish to come true, Elsa," Moana answered bashfully. "Since it was your finding day, I thought it was only fair."
No one knew why I was laughing until I said, "And I wished for yours to come true! You seemed much more invested in the wishbone than I was, and I thought it was only fair."
"What a coinkidink!" Olaf exclaimed.
"Olaf, I think you mean coincidence."
"Oh. Right. That's really funny."
Moana and I had to agree, it was weird how our minds had been in sync in that moment. Or maybe it was just the mood affecting us. Thanksgiving, as we had learned, was not only a time to be grateful for what we have, but to give what we are able to those around us.

Wishing you all a happy Thanksgiving,

Queen Elsa