- As a kid, one of my favorite things about Thanksgiving was the artwork at school. Whether coloring Pilgrims and Indians, using construction paper to make giant turkeys and maize, or drawing cornucopia spilling out food (once including a cooked turkey and a pan of dressing), I loved it.
- For years I thought dressing and stuffing were always one and the same.[1]
- My first idea that they were different was that it was dressing until we ate too much, then it became stuffing.
- Around age 5 or 6 I thought we should dress up as Pilgrims or Indians for Thanksgiving. We did have to dress up a bit for the meal, but only in a nicer than playing outside sort of way. Having to wear a starched button down to eat convinced me that if I had to dress up, it should be as an Indian, not a Pilgrim. Growing up out west, the Indians I was familiar with didn't wear as much as the those around Plymouth Rock likely did, especially late in the fall. Nowadays we tend to stay in jammies until we have company coming. I tend to stay in jammies even then unless it's not family or someone living here. I did change into jeans yesterday to play basketball with Tyler later in the afternoon, but reverted to jammies shorts as soon as we were back inside!
- I always preferred white meat, although it was usually a little drier than I wanted (back then everyone baked the turkey). So I smothered the meat in gravy and/or cranberry sauce. I still do that today, no matter how moist the turkey is.
- Since Mom made stuffing as well as gravy, our white meat was not nearly as dry as some people's.
- Over the years I got pretty experimental with leftovers. Turkey, dressing, gravy, cranberry, salsa, and pico soft tacos, anyone? With guac? Yum!
- Pumpkin pie and/or pecan pie with eggs, sausage, or bacon... breakfast of champions!
- As a kid, Thanksgiving never meant all that much to me. Then for a while it was one of my very favorite holidays. Having learned to live a thankful life, it's become less of a big deal for some reason. As it gets radically commercialized, it feels more and more like just another sad commentary on out of control USAculture.
- I don't know if I have a favorite Thanksgiving, but contenders include:
- The first Thanksgiving after my first[2] wedding. Sharon wanted to invite both families (17 people, and we may have had more; I don't recall) over. She cooked everything in a kitchen that with dining nook was maybe 12'x7' (barely room to open the fridge or over across from each other). The over was the smallest I have seen; think we had to take all the racks out and cut the turkey up a bit to make it fit). We had a couch and two bean bags and brought the four dining room chairs into the living room. Others sat on the floor. It was a great time.
- My brother Bill got married Thanksgiving weekend fourteen years ago. We drove all day Thanksgiving from Austin, TX to Augusta, GA. We found a DQ open for lunch in east Texas. They had brought in everything to provide a full Thanksgiving meal, which we soooo wanted! But traveling, we weren't sure if it would make us need to stop more, so we regretfully stuck with standard DQ fare. Should have just chanced it. Drove back Sunday. Long trip, but worth it. Love you, Bill and Laura!
- The Thanksgiving after Josiah got back from Iraq, and not just because we got to see him and his buddy Matt blowing Dr Pepper across a microfiber tablecloth.
- For years I thought maize had to me multi-colored, despite knowing that it's the Spanish word for the thing we call corn, just mispronounced. I still think of "mayze" as multi-colored corn and "ma-eese" as any corn. I have always loved the way "mayze" looks. The one time I tried some I was underwhelmed.
- One year some of us dressed up to play cowboys and Indians. After we finished killing each other off (I'm pretty sure we all died many painful, often ignominious deaths) we sat down for a pretend Thanksgiving feast.
- I always loved cranberry sauce, more appropriately known as cranberry jelly. As a kid, that was the only way I really liked it. The closer it was to having actual cranberries, the less I was interested. Now I like it all, but especially home-made cranberry sauces that are more about the berries. Sharon makes a seriously yummy blueberry cranberry sauce. In fact, as soon as I post this I am going to go eat some!
Special thanks to Kimmie Webster for making me think about the jammies with her new tradition of PJs only Thanksgivings!
Notes
[1] It's all dressing, but it's stuffing if you stuffed the turkey with it. You're welcome.
[2] First and only, and that's perfect! 8^)
