Great afternoons so often begin with local beer, wherever you are.

Sweetwater Brewery in Atlanta lets fans help affix labels to its beer one night a week, so you sometimes find it easier to read the particular brew name (in this case, Georgia Brown) when you’re tilting the neck back on November afternoons…

The Sweetwater “don’t float the mainstream” motto applies to most of my family holidays, and this Thanksgiving was no exception; my sister Kassandra and I drove to the airport singing Motown to pick up my sister Kat and her boyfriend Reid,

and we stopped off at Everybody’s Pizza in Decatur before returning to my parents’ house to admire turkey cupcakes,

and go through menu options for the Feast.

A significant trip to the grocery (only one, though) later the next day,

and we were all back at the house, battling it out on the Wii, confusing the poor dog by dressing him up in a bee costume, and deciding on costumes of our own for the annual Thanksgiving video:

After raiding the closet in my old room, we looked for more inspiration in the basement costume closets while Kat played the drums (note: Kassandra’s friend Amber is wearing Kat’s butterfly harness from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics Opening Ceremonies on her head here).

Costumes sorted, wigs on, Kat called out for a pick,

and we all took choreographic direction from Kassandra:

Dad donned a Waldo cap to film in the garage (and worked out the lighting logistics);

Amber and I solemnly took pictures of the scene while the others rehearsed.

Putting down our cameras, the Rolyat Five emerged, all smiles and ready for the big number,

and we amused the neighbors with our midnight performance; I am pleased and proud to present The (remixed) Rolyat Five with “I Want You Back”:

Thursday morning, we worked through the list of dishes,

Kat juggled the shallots (it’s a tradition that brings us kitchen luck),

Reid sliced the beautiful chanterelles they had brought from Portland (Kat and Reid forage mushrooms) to top the stuffing,

and I smashed the potatoes (leaving the Yukon Gold skins on gives more flavor) and stirred in the buttermilk.

Kassandra took this action shot as we finished pulling things out of ovens and the warming drawer;

this Pyrex series lined one side of the kitchen counter:

Clockwise from left (annotated image): purple Portland artichokes, green beans with balsamic-shallot butter, turkey, cranberry sauce with cava, smashed potatoes, stuffing with chanterelles, roasted brussel sprouts and fennel, roasted acorn squash and pearl onions with pepita pesto, and asparagus. (We started with a butternut squash soup with cinnamon-sugar croutons.)

Then, Kat surprised everyone with chocolate from the Cacao shop in Portland (and taught us the difference between direct trade and fair trade chocolate):

Much later, we discussed Motown, the anomalies of the Rock Band game, and outdoor art installations over apple turnovers;

from upside-down labels to turned-over pastry, I am very grateful for days with this merry band of rockers and counting down until next Thanksgiving, when the Rolyats roll again…

Full set of the Flickr images here.

My younger sister Kassandra (she’s the youngest of the three of us) is an incredible, fierce dancer who just moved from San Francisco, where she was training with Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet and posing in front of walls of graffiti. (Stunning, isn’t she?)

I’ve just freshened her personal site kassandrataylor.com;

you’ll see new Flickr images, a new review page, and what’s known in the dance world as a “reel” (a composite video of performance highlights) that a friend of hers made.

Here’s the reel in case you can’t wait:

Told you she was fierce.

Kassandra has also begun a tumblelog (a blog species with brief posts including images, audio, and video and without comments). You can visit that blog for more about her thoughts and follow along as she settles into Salt Lake City.

Thoughts for Kassandra? What do you think of the site update? Let me know in the comments, please–