I’m pretty sure my mother’s never going to let me forget it for as long as she lives, but it was still edible. Olive oil and garlic cover all sins.
We caught a break.
Shortly after arriving at the ED the kid was seen & the relevant specialists were on the ball & available. He got relevant treatment quickly and was already improving as they were doing additional diagnostics. A couple hours later there was a debate among the specialists to admit him or send him home w some extra oral meds. “Send him home” won out. So the women texted me they were heading back home & we agreed to press ahead with feast tonight. It was ~6:30pm.
Meanwhile back at the fort, I’d pulled the turkey when done and it was resting, and resting, and resting. Pre-emergency we’d planned to start assembling all the other stuff 1 hour before the turkey was to come out, using two cooks. Now I was starting that same process 90 minutes after the turkey came out with just 1 cook. Who was not the one who’d packed all our stuff for transport.
Cue flail. But a fun flail. Women got home & the poor kid was lots better but far from well, so after some hugs he went to bed. My wife joined me in the kitchen & her daughter set about retrieving the other 5 farmed-out kids while we both cooked and prevented kidly mayhem as the horde returned piecemeal. Once she had her entire brood in hand it was time for PJs, feed the bottle kids, etc.
It was 9:30pm when we finally sat down to eat: 3 adults and 4 of 5 kids old enough to eat real food. Everything was tepid to cold, the kids were a bit cranky, and it was a wonderful experience.
It’s now midnight:30. The kids are in bed, the leftovers packed, daughter’s kitchen restored to some semblance of its normal disorder, we are back home, our fridge is stuffed with our leftovers, and the first cocktail of the entire event is being savored. Tomorrow daytime will have us loading the dishwasher with all the hastily washed stuff from daughter’s and generally reveling in the silence that comes from having zero kidlets underfoot, not 7.
In all, not the success we expected, but a different sort of success and just as good.
This is the first Thanksgiving in over 10 years I haven’t taken the entire week off. We usually go to the Carribean but my wife had some surgery and doesn’t want to travel just yet. Not so bad. I get time and a half pay plus 8 hours added to my comp time accruement.
Tomorrow will be a busy day at the store. People LOVE to buy guns on Black Friday. With a possible AWB looming folks are buying AR’s and magazines like mad.
Hey, great to hear! It’s the old “victory from the jaws of defeat” story! Sometimes that sort of outcome is better than a routine Thanksgiving because you’re appropriately thankful that life has dealt you a pretty good deal! Cheers! 
Looks good! Oddly enough, the stove looks exactly like my glass-top Amana, and the countertop looks exactly like mine!
The only thing I would have done differently is made my own mashed potatoes, but I can appreciate the convenience of the pre-made stuff. I do get it myself once in a while.
Many skritches and best wishes to Bob. Sounds like his health issue isn’t serious but I know you’ll make sure he’s well cared for. 
It was an interesting Thanksgiving. I was prepared to spend it alone. My oldest daughter J (22) lives in Kansas. I live in Florida. My youngest daughter C (20) and her boyfriend R (20) live with me (65). We have 6 cats (B, O, M, F, C, & PP).
The original plan was for C and R to have dinner at R’s mother’s house and I’d spend a quiet day alone with the cats. Well, not exactly quiet with the 6 cats from hell, but quieter than normal.
Well, J decided to surprise me by driving here from Kansas last week. She drove alone and made the trip in under 2 days. I noticed she didn’t have a license tag on her van. “Aw, the Kansas cops don’t care, Dad, I’ve been stopped before and they just give me a warning.”
“Florida cops aren’t so forgiving”, I replied.
Sure enough, the very next day she got pulled over by a Florida cop and given a ticket to appear in court. “Don’t worry, Dad, what are they going to do, extradite me from Kansas over a traffic infraction?”
For a brilliant girl (gifted program throughout school, full merit scholarship to a fine school of art, etc), J sure does some dumb things. But, I love her and we had a great time on her visit. Unfortunately, she had to return to Kansas a couple of days before Thanksgiving. I made sure she got her van registered and tagged before leaving. She made the trip back to Kansas in under 2 days.
I attribute my hypertension to J. I attribute my anxiety to C. I attribute my flea bites to the 6 cats.
C and R thought it would be better to have Thanksgiving at my place rather than R’s mothers’ house. They didn’t want me to be alone on the holiday. So, they invited R’s mother and his 2 sisters to my place for the day. No problem. With enough wine and medical marijuana, this may be a fun event.
C is vegan. She prepared a vegan roast (basically a turkey made from plants. Sounds delicious doesn’t it?) as well as a couple of side dishes and pies. I made a real turkey for the rest of us carnivores. R’s mom brought roast beef and some other sides. I imagine the feast was similar to the Pilgrims First Thanksgiving.
I didn’t even try to prevent the 6 cats from dive bombing the food at will (look up “exercise in futility”). “Where’s the other turkey leg” Benny snagged it. “Where did my roast beef go?” Meatball snagged it from your plate when you weren’t looking. Ollie (the 4-month-old ninja-cat) took a running leap for the turkey when I opened the oven door. Luckily I saw him from the corner of my eye in time to close the door, otherwise, he’d be the Cat in a Hot Tin Oven.
[Aside: I could write a book about the social structure and hierarchy of 6 cats and 3 people living together. It would be a psychological drama, or maybe a horror story.]
Thanksgiving was exhausting…but a lot of fun. I can’t wait to see what Christmas has to offer.
Since I work at a glorified grocery store and grocery stores are open on Thanksgiving I worked my usual early shift. Despite holiday chaos I finished 45 minutes early and in recognition it was a holiday I was allowed to leave early.
My nearest relative is 500 miles away, but I have friends who take me in for the holidays so I’m not alone. Absolutely magnificent holiday spread put out by the women who weren’t working that day, except for the elderly matriarch who was told to sit down and relax, the next two generations had it in hand. Lovely 4 hours spent, but then I had to go because we’re also general merchandisers at the glorified grocery store and today is Black Friday so anticipate more chaos today.
(Don’t feel bad for me - yesterday was holiday pay AND time and half, which works out to 2.5 times normal pay rate. I am being compensated for my time and effort)
Went home with all the remaining dark turkey meat (apparently I’m only one there who likes it), cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, dinner rolls, baconed carrots, and a portion of the munchie trays. Don’t have to worry about cooking for a few days, which is find by me because I’m working through the weekend and it’s going to be busy. Being able to come home and reheat food is a welcome thing this week.
I turned 61 earlier this year. Happy Holy Hell to us both! I celebrated by getting my first ever tattoo, but that’s for a different thread (What’s your tattoo story?).
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
I’m sorry to learn of those battling covid. I hope y’all get better soon. If you like a strong ginger tea I’ll share my magic potion:
- get a bottle of pickled ginger from grocery store, the kind they use at sushi restaurants. This is the key ingredient.
- the rest is usual: lemon juice, honey, tea
Pour ginger juice from the jar to taste. As the rest to taste.
This magic potion will help to kick ass against a cold or flu.
For Thanksgiving my wife and I had a quiet day at home alone. We had celebrated an early Thanksgiving with family last weekend, because some were starting a vacation this weekend.
Today at home we streamed and watched the two Top Gun movies. It was like a date night, just us, home alone.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Best wishes to your mom. And to you.
There is something about baked mac & cheese that is just sublime. Throw in a handful of ham cubes and you have my favorite casserole. Tuna will work in a pinch.
Ya know, my preference is for the pure cheesiness of mac n cheese without any added ham, tuna, turkey, or other animal protein. Just my opinion. YMMV. You do you.
Deeply cheesy mac & cheese is a great comfort food. But lately I’ve taken to adding a few slices of a locally made smoked garlic sausage to it, very aromatic and smoky especially when fresh, and it adds a nice zing to mac & cheese. One of my favourite stores sells both this garlic sausage and store-made baked mac & cheese. It’s the same place that has great chicken burritos. Every time I’m there I end up buying more stuff than I intended, and then gaining weight over the next week! 
I’m a freak - I generally prefer stovetop to baked.
Just cheese and Mac, anything else goes to the side of the Mac and cheese.
I like the purity, but I have been known to add any ONE accent flavor (never more than one): lots of fresh cracked pepper (not ground), fresh bacon crumbles (in moderation), or roasted hatch chilis.
-nods supportively while preparing to call the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) and have the dangerously insane one dragged away- 
Follow up on my prior post regarding Thanksgiving. Still unknown status on all the Turkey cooked by MiL and delivered to Aunt, but WAS able to confirm they kept back 2 turkey skeletons for me to later render down into stocky goodness. So not a total loss. FiL and uncle in law still ill, but no worse, so that’s a minor blessing.
I’m so sorry for both your mother and you. May she get over the illness quickly and without any of the extreme side effects. May you be rewarded with a lovely day, soon.
@burpo_the_wonder_mutt, agreeing on the baked mac & cheese, it’s the best.
Ours was low key. We both have the flu and not much of an appetite. A local restaurant was offering turkey meals and we got one to share. It was more than enough to share.
I’m almost over things, but my wife is still suffering.
I cooked the whole traditional dinner (turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts etc) and packed it up and drove fifteen miles to the little house where my daughter’s wife’s mom is dying of cancer (daughter and wife have moved in with her now). It was supposed to be special for her but she slept through the whole thing and when she finally woke up she was too nauseated to eat anything.
After we left she took a turn for the worse and they called the fire department for help carrying her down the stairs from her bedroom to her new hospital bed in the living room. She’ll probably never see that bedroom again. She was very confused most of the day but when my husband went over to visit today she was more lucid.
I’m afraid it will be a very grim Christmas.
{{{@Ulfreida and family}}}
My thoughts are with you also, @Ulfreida.