Thanksgiving Dinner, Day 295

One of the things I'm most thankful for is food. I LOVE food. Christmas is awesome but it irks me how thanksgiving sort of gets pushed out of the way every year. The large dinners with family, the feasts, the leftovers, turkey, gravy, potatoes, corn (I really like corn), pies, casserole upon casserole upon casserole; oh yummy. The past few years have been rather disappointing in the feast department. I've learned rather quickly that if you don't host thanksgiving (which is a HUGE ordeal. I tried it once but no one seemed too impressed (and my mother in law didn't even show up... that was a huge blow to my self esteem)) well then you don't get leftovers. Also, I've held this apparently inaccurate opinion that Thanksgiving should consist of several different feasts with several different sets of loved ones. That hasn't been the case for the past few years either.  

Last year was interesting, to say the least. Jesse always has to work ridiculous hours so we weren't able to attend my extended families party in Detroit. Unfortunately his mother was VERY sick, his extended family hadn't invited us to any of their parties AND his step-dad, step-grandma and his sister didn't invite us to their dinner. So Thanksgiving comes around and there's me and Jesse with several siblings, several grandparents, a heep of aunts, uncles, and countless cousins (mostly on my side) and we're alone, just the two of us at our house with the critters. (I finally understood how my mom feels) I made a huge dinner while he was at work. He came home to a house filled with the smells of Thanksgiving, a decked out dining room table (which we don't ever use) covered in tons of food, even a turkey (I cooked  a breast in the crock pot), and me smiling from behind candles quite contentedly about the accomplishment. We enjoyed our feast (rather quickly and quietly) and then he came up with the generous, brilliant, and compassionate idea of dropping all the leftovers of my very recently slaved over meal at his mothers house. She was very sick (swine flu) and all alone and without a Thanksgiving dinner herself. Of course I couldn't say no. We packaged everything up, brought it over, dropped on the front porch in order to avoid the germs and Thanksgiving dinner was officially over. So, yet again, no leftovers.

That extensive whiny story about me not having countless opportunities to engorge myself leads to this: Last Saturday I decided I would not resign to yet another disappointing Thanksgiving let down.  I cooked the first Thanksgiving dinner of this year. I baked a turkey breast in the oven (which I liked much more than the one in the crock pot). I made half and half sweet potato regular potato mashed potatoes with butter, garlic, parmesan and mozzarella cheese. I made green bean casserole and for no apparent reason we dined on Thanksgiving a few weeks early. It was tons better and cheaper then going out to eat at a restaurant somewhere AND we had tons of leftovers for several more meals and a few snacks after that : ) I fully intend on cooking another turkey breast, maybe even a whole bird before Thanksgiving arrives and this time I might splurge a bit and make my Grandma McRae's mac n cheese and a pie or pumpkin cheesecake. Anyway, that's my story. I LOVE Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving dinner and I'm taking the bull by the horns this year, or maybe the bird by the feathers. yep.