Thanksgiving
Clsoing on the house was just the first of many challenges. Earlier in the year, before I had really decided to move to Sun City, I had invited my family to have Thanksgiving dinner with me. It seemed obvious at the time. I had a big house, enjoyed cooking, and wanted the comfort of family during the holidays. Boy, was I in for a surprise.
For all you men out there who think cooking a meal for visiting family is the same as cooking for the wife and kids, have I got a surprise for you. I thought I had it all worked out. Turkey on grill, casseroles put together ahead of time, dessert from the local BJ’s store, a piece of cake! First problem I overlooked was making the dressing.
Turkey dressing is a big deal in my family. We have a recipe, well really more of a ritual, that has been handed down over the years. I remember my wife helping my Mom make it for many years as she learned how. My wife did write the recipe down, but in that strange southern manner of documenting recipes that require knowledge of much more than just the recipe. For instance, how do I make the corn bread? Gee, no recipe for that. So I bumbled through based on my wife’s notes and my hazy memories. It must have turned out pretty good because there wasn’t much left.
So, on to cleaning up and get the turkey on. Lots of turkey pieces left over from making the stock for the dressing. Save them for giblet gravy right? Well, I remembered that just as they hit the bottom of the garbage can. So, no giblet gravy for the dressing this year.
Next up is setting the table. We’ll use a pretty table cloth from the side board. What, its not there? I eventually was able to cover the table with a collection of two table cloths for the breakfast table and a runner. I never did find the right table cloth for the dining room table.
Now how many people do we have today? No problem, they’ll all fit at the table, its big with two big leafs to put in it. Ooops, one person too many and not enough chairs. I used every chair in the house to include the office chair and still didn’t have enough seats for everyone. Nor enough silverware. Gee, what a fiasco.
In the end, everyone enjoyed themselves. Everyone got plenty to eat. They all agree Uncle Jeff knows how to cook a mean turkey on a Weber charcoal grill cause there wasn’t much left at all. The moral of the story is knowing how to cook a meal is not the same as knowing how to host a meal. Men, don’t take your wife for granted when comes to the family get togethers.