Thursday, November 22, 2007

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

I hope my fellow Americans are enjoying a great Turkey Day! And good eating to you all!!

Today is a quiet Thanksgiving around here. Just the four of us. I'm sure we'll get in a rousing game of Guitar Hero III, a screening of Live Free or Die Hard (only $14.00 at the grocery store yesterday), lots of cooking, a little baking, way too much food because I don't know how to make a Thanksgiving dinner for less than 8 people, and a visit to a neighbor's house for dessert this evening.

I don't confess to being the smartest dress in the shop, the sharpest tool in the shed, the brightest bulb in the box, etc., but neither am I a complete dunce. My problem is I'm like a neon bulb. It starts out slow but once it's had time to warm up is bright. So I guess that means I'm not the quickest grayhound in the park.

All that is to say I had a great idea after it was too late. I had enough grocery store points to get a free turkey so I figured I'd get the smallest one they had since it's just the four of us. The smallest turkey I could find was 15.5 pounds. That's a lotta bird for a little family. After thawing it out I realized I should have just thrown it in the freezer and bought a turkey breast for today.

See what I mean? Great idea. Just too late to execute it.

A conversation with the family the other day:

Me: Since it's just going to be the four of us we probably need to cut out some of the food. So what do we want?

FM1: Well you can't have Thanksgiving dinner without turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and corn.

FM2: And it wouldn't be the same without green bean casserole.

FM3: Ooo! And you have to make the sweet potato casserole!

FM2: Yeah! And cranberry sauce! I love cranberry sauce on my turkey!

Me: I have to have stuffing, too.

FM1: I'm good with just the turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and corn.

FM3: Hey! Can you make peas this year, too? I like peas and we never have them.

Me: Okay. So that's turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, stuffing and now peas. We haven't left anything out. And now you want peas! It's just the four of us!

FM3: But it wouldn't be right to cut anything out.

FM1: I'll be happy with just the turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and corn.

FM2: I don't think you can cut anything out, Mom. It would be wrong.

Me: Fine. I'll make all of it and we're going to eat it for days, even if the thought of it will make us sick. No whining if you puke!

Usually we'll eat around 4:00 or so and snack up until that time if we get hungry. But since it's just us I'm hoping to eat around 1:00 or maybe 2:00 so we'll have longer to eat. An afternoon of grazing, if you will.

And then I'll make a dutch apple pie to take to the neighbors. I had planned on making a pumpkin pie, but they're already going to have two.

My big dilemma now is where do we eat? Do we eat in the dining room like we always do for special dinners? If so that means I need to get in there and dust. Very sad. Or should we just eat at the K-Mart Special table? Do I put all the food onto my platters and bowls and such and place them on the table? If so we have to eat in the dining room. Or do we just serve ourselves from the stove and eat at the little table? I dunno. I guess we'll wing it.

Let's talk about Christmas decorations for a minute, shall we? I used to wait to decorate until December. But then all the neighbors would be decorating over the Thanksgiving weekend and it really is more convenient that way. So the other day I had the kids pull up all the Christmas stuff from the basement and it's now scattered all over the living room.

Confession time. I had my reconstruction last year on December 29th. I was in the hospital for five days and then was basically an invalid for another six weeks or so. My in-laws were here and my mother-in-law and the kids took down all the Christmas decorations for me and placed them in the basement. She didn't want to mess up my system so they just laid everything nicely on the floor with the belief that I would eventually box it all up just so and put it away the way I wanted to. Very thoughtful, if you ask me. But I never did. It's all been sitting on the floor since January. This year I'll get it all put up right, though!

Again - I hope all of you who are celebrating Thanksgiving have a wonderful day. And for those of you who don't celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you recognize all you have to be thankful for anyway!

Labels: holidays

Mused by Jenster :: 11:37 AM :: 12 People musing:

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