Three evites and two phone calls and several emails this week reveal the plans of friends and family.\u00a0 Ed and Barbara made reservations at the Indian casino near them in the wine country of Northern California.\u00a0 They’ll share a restaurant meal with a son, daughter-in-law and grandson.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sue and John are headed (with lab, Lucy) to Santa Cruz for a long weekend. They’ll take walks on the beach, eat too much, toss the ball for Lucy, play board games with family and friends, \u00a0and then do it all over again.<\/p>\n
Peyce in Los Angeles, an actor\/singer\/great Southern cook,\u00a0has his gang of vagabond performers over every year.\u00a0 Since I never make it on the day itself, I always hope to find Peyce at home a couple of days later – along with some of his leftovers.<\/p>\n
This season never disappoints –\u00a0no matter where my family has been and no matter how few or how many of us gather.\u00a0 And there was that one\u00a0year – a fluke – when plans changed and I found myself alone on turkey day.\u00a0 Still, celebratory feelings prevailed.\u00a0\u00a0I called Max’s Cafe ,\u00a0ordered one of their special turkey dinners to go, picked it up and kicked off my Christmas movie DVD-watching extravaganza.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My daughter and I have often traveled to join the rest of the family at someone else’s house.\u00a0 We’ve also gone the restaurant route\u00a0with\u00a0friends,\u00a0and maybe we’ll do both those things again, but when we’re someplace else on\u00a0turkey day,\u00a0we\u00a0start getting really excited on the way home because we know that we’ll end up cooking the whole meal ourselves\u00a0within the next couple of days.\u00a0 We\u00a0crave the leftovers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thanksgiving is\u00a0a good time to express gratitude.\u00a0 It’s a good time for\u00a0hugs and memories and watching the Macy’s parade first thing in the morning,\u00a0and it’s also great\u00a0having all that food around over the weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Who are those people who claim they’re sick of turkey two days later?\u00a0Most people I know have plans for the food they don’t consume at the one big meal.\u00a0 You won’t hear us complain about all that turkey.\u00a0 We’re not the ones asking the TV cooking show hosts for new ways to treat the food the next day and the next.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
I’ve watched\u00a0my brother\u00a0gleefully attach our grandmother’s (God rest her soul) old fashioned food grinder to a counter top as soon as the dishes are cleared so that he can claim some choice chunks of turkey for his famous turkey salad the next day.<\/p>\n
I regularly bake\u00a0too many\u00a0pumpkin pies\u00a0so we can have pie\u00a0for breakfast for days.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
I don’t understand the need to disguise leftovers\u00a0with clever recipes. If you’re concerned\u00a0about the leftovers from your own feast, not to worry, send ’em on over here.\u00a0<\/p>\n