106. Everybody Knows Some Turkey

Thanksgiving Turmoil.  Don’t you just love Holiday Hoopla? We sure do. Where would the fun be without massive power outages, cancelled flights, spilled tureens of gravy, emotional meltdowns and a houseful of family? What would be the point of having everything go smoothly from start to end? I recall some incidents from days of yore...

Aunt Edna and Uncle Leo wound up staying a lot longer than planned. Thanks to that week of heavy fog at the airport, right?

No, it wasn’t a pack of neighbor dogs that swooped in and swiped the roast. They were his cats.

It’s a shame I had to go to the garage fridge to get the tray of dip and veggies. I was gone only two minutes, but just missed the blow-up that caused half of our guests to grab their coats and hats, slam the door, and peel out the driveway. Stunned, I stood there with all those carrot sticks and cuke slices.  I’m still not sure what happened all these years later.

Serendipity! When houses all over Puget Sound went dark, I learned I can actually BBQ a whole turkey over charcoal briquets in my trusty grill. Ever since the Thanksgiving Storms of ’83 and ‘90, I’ve had my Weber ready to light, just in case. 

Mickie, a long-ago roommate, impulsively decided to pick up some swarthy down-and-out gentlemen from the streets of Seattle. Compassionate on a whim, she drove them to our home intending to serve a Thanksgiving meal. It was already mid-afternoon when they arrived, and she struggled in with a huge uncooked turkey. Meanwhile, the barely-sober and mystified pair dozed for a couple of hours while Mickie began to learn how to cook, firmly insisting she didn’t need help.

I finally offered to buy the guys some take-out food and drive them back to the city.  “Thanks,” one said, “we’ll appreciate the ride, but no need to buy us food if we leave now. We can catch the big meal at the shelter tonight." I asked how they wound up in Mickie's car. "When your friend rolled down her window and said ‘Come on, get in,’ we didn’t know what to do, you know? So, we got in.”

Our Thanksgiving gatherings have grown in number. This year, we set a table for 16, and that doesn’t include at least four others who might have come. I am used to manning the stove and range for the whole thing, but the meal has become much more a potluck as the younger ones willingly take on some of the preparations, and we even get plenty of help cleaning up. I am totally fine with all of that!

Time to start preparing for the next holiday… gotta dash! Happy Thanksgiving Aftermath everyone!