Thanksgiving Memories...

The smell of turkey brings up a host of thanksgiving memories...

• More than a few Thanksgiving dinners at Aunt Kay's. She was a terrible cook -- dry turkey, decent gravy and tart JELLO salad with sour cream -- that looked like whipped cream. The best part about dinner at Aunt Kay's was watching a newbie get into the "sweet potato vs. yam" choice with Uncle Earl. 20 mintues later, Earl would be done explaining the difference and the newbie would regret asking -- as their choice would be cold.
• Thanksgiving in the little house I grew up in --- Mom's a great cook, but often worked the holiday, so sometimes Pam and I would go elsewhere and then sometimes Mom would cook another day... so our "Thanksgiving" might be on Wednesday, Friday or some following Sunday.
• The first turkey I ever cooked --- I was just married (anniversary was last week...) and we lived in Colorado. I had all the stuff -- but no real experience with the bird. I tried to call Mom in Minnesota, but all the phone lines out of Denver were BUSY ---- which made me very homesick.... it was 1990, so I knew Mom wouldn't be on IM or able to take a text... In the end, I did talk with her --- and ended up cooking the bird without taking the paper out of the bottom of the tinfoil pan.
• Last Thanksgiving it was me, Hubby and mother-in-law. I bought the whole meal at the grocery store -- and it was pretty good, although I can do better. I spent the weekend reading ethics drafts --- something I vowed never to do again.
  
• Alternate Thanksgivings with Hubby's side of the family --- The same basic meal -- always really good, which is something to be thankful for in and of itself, because my sister-in-law could be a terrible cook ala Aunt Kay :). Good company, nice conversation (no alcohol, so no drunken fights :), ), the kids are growing up -- so the group gets smaller as the older two are in school in Utah. One of the really good things about being here is living close to them ---they're really different from my side, but not "different" in a bad way :). Yesterday I was pretty proud of myself for not getting into a big political fight with my brother-in-law (sister-in-law's husband, not Hubby's brother). He's a fan of Michelle Bachman -- and not so hot on Obama.... I realized that I wouldn't get anyplace with him and did some smiling and nodding... yea me!
  
• Today we'll cook a mini-Thanksgiving dinner--- mostly so we can have leftovers. We'll do a turkey breast, stuffing, baked sweet potatoes, 5-cup salad (ha -- Hubby, my blog, you can't change it to "Ambrosia" -- I win this one!) and cranberries. I'll also make a pie -- but only quasi-from scratch. Those are the Thanksgiving leftovers we don't throw away :) ---