Thanksgiving Fun!!!

Religion, hormones, and politics aside, I passed a kidney stone once. That hurt pretty bad.

But, on a more serious note, can someone explain something to me?

Why on God's Green Earth must people, and by that I mean my mom, spend all day Wednesday getting the china out...that hasn't been used in a year....and spend hours cleaning it. Only to move on to the kitchen and slave away preparing a huge meal for what looks like the entire 5th infantry all the while denying any help because it would mess up her rhythm. Then, after eating the meal, momma...errr people, proceed to trying to hand wash all the china before putting it away for another year. Did I mention hand polishing all the silverware, too?

Now, back in my teenage years, I used to let her do it....because I was a 17 year old punk. But, I have offered help many, many times. I finally snapped back then, though, because all that work for people that didn't appreciate the fuss seemed like a complete waste of a 5 day weekend and a complete inducer of unnecessary stress. I told her that if she had to do it to relieve some sick need of HERS to be "classy" then she no longer had the right to witch about it because she knew no one appreciated it and she was only doing it because SHE wanted to for HER.

To her credit....and my shocking survival past my 18th birthday....she hasn't complained since. But, she still does the whole damned routine. I am asking you people......errrr moms.....why? What is this need to stress yourself out around the holidays when it "could" be done much easier?

Gosh, mm, my post was written tongue-in-cheek, and was just as influenced by BBG's post a few days about his wife popping her cork and banishing everyone to the basement. They were just more victims of The Perfect Princess Syndrome.

LOL...I am not sure BBG. I have no answer. Maybe cause it's passed down from mother to daughter?

I know after a few thanksgivings I realized it was about the food and the pomp could fly a kite.

We eat thanksgiving dinner off of expensive paper plates now and I buy plastic cups, and I put the turkey in a throw away roaster. My grandmother would have heart failure! LOL But...shrug...it helps.

I have always wondered why the older women of the family do all the cooking, seemed to me it would make way more sense for the mom's and grandma's to sit and relax while daughters and DIL's did all the work... It would give the youngers something to look forward to when they get older, to have the meal prepared for them maybe just under their watchful eye.

Boff...I totally get your humor...but I couldn't help but notice the silence my post created, and realized after your post I may have actually made people uncomfortable. I couldn't tell if it was the activity level on the forum or my post. What comes naturally for a woman to discuss still isn't good mixed company conversation sometimes and I forget that. I totally was serious with my apology as much as I knew you were humorous with your post. No worries my friend!

On another note, when your family is as dysfunctional as mine and my husbands holidays are always interesting in the least. This year should be quite interesting with my brother and my mother now living here in town. I think I am more nervous about this Thanksgiving than I was about my first one years and years ago. But I'm STILL using Dixie plates....they can judge if they wanna. LOL

Maybe a little later I will share my Egg Nog Cheesecake recipe that I make for Thanksgiving...

In the meantime, this is a yummy recipe I will be making this year.

http://chickensintheroad.com/farm-bell-recipes/pumpkin-pie-with-rum-and-walnuts/

Just newly married, far, far away from Mom, Grandmother, etc., in the middle of Central Texas Ranch land 35 miles from nearest town, but, dagnabit, I was going to fix Thanksgiving dinner, complete with turkey. Husband bought a turkey from McCoy, who raised beautiful heirloom bird, and brought it home.....and tied it to a tree out front. It was still alive! Having been raised by farm folk in my young years, I opined that we could use the brand new and unused trans can to put the boiling water in to help removed the feathers after the bird was dispatched. He went out to "dispatch." Why men have to do things the hard way, but my grandma never killed a chicken or turkey with a rifle, using the bobbing head as a target. Finally, hubby whacked its head off with a machete and it was up for the boiling water dip in the trash can on the back porch. Twenty minutes later, I was in the kitchen preparing pies when he popped in and asked, "Say, how long is that thing supposed to soak?" Freak out time: we jerked the bird up out of the water, grabbed a handful of feathers and yanked. They came free, alright, along with the entire skin. But we made do. We prepared the turkey as properly as possible, stuffed its cavety, and put strips of fresh bacon all over the breast, and roasted it. Maybe we were just young, in love, and very, very hungry, but it was the best Thanksgiving turkey!

Great story Nonna!

BackyardBirdGardner wrote: But, on a more serious note, can someone explain something to me?

Why on God's Green Earth must people, and by that I mean my mom, spend all day Wednesday getting the china out...that hasn't been used in a year....and spend hours cleaning it. Only to move on to the kitchen and slave away preparing a huge meal for what looks like the entire 5th infantry all the while denying any help because it would mess up her rhythm. Then, after eating the meal, momma...errr people, proceed to trying to hand wash all the china before putting it away for another year. Did I mention hand polishing all the silverware, too?

Ah, yes...another one of life's enduring mysteries!

My wackiest Thanksgiving was the first year my hubby and I had an "orphans" feast for about 20 folks who had no where else to go on the big day. We cooked the turkey on our old Weber kettle (outstanding!!!!), and everyone else brought the rest of the fixings. One of our guests was kind of an edgy bloke, and he brought the stuffing laced with...unbeknownst to anyone else...that wacky tabaccy. About 1/2 way into the meal we all starting giggling for no apparent reason and we were laughing at whatever someone elsesaid..."Pass the cranberry sauce, please." rated a mild giggle, "More turkey anyone?" was a full out laugh, but the one that put everyone into uncontrollable guffaws was, "I'm stuffed!!!"

Needless to say we didn't inviite him to make the stuffing the following year...or the brownies, either!

I bet there weren't any leftovers!

If i'm hosting Thanksgiving at my house, the division of labor goes like this, I cook, everybody else cleans up. Good china may come out but its dishewaher safe and I don't own any silver. According to my mother, Lazy mothers make for smart kids.

Kay

We eat thanksgiving dinner off of expensive paper plates now and I buy plastic cups

Click link for surprise video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKZqGJONH68

Oh, and that wasn't my "worst" Thanksgiving, or my funniest. It was my EVERY! Mom used to say for years, "When you host, what will you do? Paper plates?"

I told her, "Mostaccioli on paper plates. Or, maybe we order pizza. I don't know yet. But it WON'T be this." (Did I mention I was a teenaged (bad word for donkey)?)

But, this year, we get to host. Guess what? I've already met the basement once. I've been shopping twice. But, at least my paper plates are being honored.

Some things are just worth fighting for.

BackyardBirdGardner wrote:Click link for surprise video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKZqGJONH68

Great vid! I wish it was around when I used to buy them by the 1000's.

I love Tom T Hall and Roger Miller songs. Brad Paisley and quite a few Toby Kieth songs have the same satirical lyrics. I really appreciate the intelligence it must take to write these types of songs.

Lol BBG. I came close to posting this one after you asked "why" it had to be that way for thanksgiving. This is the first song that came to mind, and why haha! I am a huge Kieth fan too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4m26XgjdA4

its not the most exciting of vids, but the tamest for here

Sorry boys, but it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing...



(The Bob Wills vids are pretty rough to both watch and listen)

Hey, don't forget to bring out the homemade pickles! I'd bring out the home canned beans, too, but the garden didn't produce enough to can - too much heat. I hope the turkey comes out good, but I KNOW the pickles are great!

boffer wrote:I bet there weren't any leftovers!

Nary a one, Boffer...put a whole new spin on gobble, gobble!

nKedrOoStEr wrote:Lol BBG. I came close to posting this one after you asked "why" it had to be that way for thanksgiving. This is the first song that came to mind, and why haha! I am a huge Kieth fan too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4m26XgjdA4

its not the most exciting of vids, but the tamest for here

Now, I'm hungry for brownies...

A quick conversation between me and my autistic son that just happened, so I thought I'd share...

Matthew: I hungry, Dad.
Me: What would you like?
Matthew: Pizza rolls.
Me: How many?
Matthew: Fifteen
Me: JoAnn? Does he really eat 15 freaking pizza rolls?
JoAnn: Yes, and sometimes asks for something else.
Me: Ok. Fifteen it is.
Matthew (After eating): Now Toasted Raviolis.
Me: Is that turkey still in the fridge or did he get that, too?

Lol. One of the twins I almost have to beat to get him to eat. Other times I almost have to beat him to quit! He is a chicken nugget fiend!


and toasted ravioli sounds gooood

Toasted ravioli IS good

Happy Thanksgiving all! I don't really have many crazy stories: much alcohol is consumed but my family can really hold its liquor. My mother cleans, my father and I cook, and my mother cleans again.

I will say that growing up, seeing "the women" hanging out in the kitchen after dinner slaving away cleaning up all the dishes, I swore to myself I wouldn't be one of them. It's a rule: if you cook, you don't have to clean - so I've taken on half the cooking from my dad.

I make a mean scalloped potatoes. Easy as pie to make. Next year after I grow my own potatoes, I hope to use them in this dish!


3 or so pounds of yukon gold potatoes, sliced very thinly (I use a mandolin for uniform slices and thus, uniform cooking)
20 or so ounces of shredded cheese (I generally use colby jack and cheddar)
About a pint of heavy cream
1 diced onion
Salt and pepper

Put a layer of sliced potatoes in the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle on salt and pepper, then some onion. Sprinkle on a good layer of cheese. Repeat until you have three or four layers. I'll usually flatten them down after each layer. Once you've got the top layer in place, pour the heavy cream over all, and then flatten down one more time to look and see if the cream is coming over the top again. I end up using most of the pint, but usually not all.

Bake at 350 degrees for around an hour and a half, and let cool a little bit to set.

My family loves this - hope you do too!

Oh, MiddleMamma, don't you dare apologize for your post! I totally needed to read it! And I still can't get boiled eggs to peel properly!

We always go to my ILs and MIL doesn't allow anyone to help, other than FIL prepping the turkey (she can't stand raw poultry) and lifting it in and out of the roaster. I was really hoping to convince her to let me do a thing or two, but am having some complications and need to stay off my feet. I really enjoy cooking and hope to do a big Thanksgiving dinner someday (a year when I'm NOT pregnant!). But BIL who still lives at home has a 24 Nov birthday so that complicates inviting them down to visit us and so it is what it is for now.

When I was a kid we lived about 4 hours away from the rest of both sides of the family, who were still in the LA area. We'd head out there straight from school on Wed and stay until Sunday night, facing terrible traffic both ways. For many years we ate 2 Thanksgiving feasts...one with my Nana and her fantastic traditional Utah cooking, then a potluck style a few hours later with my mom's side and her less than fantastic mom and sisters' cooking. I was so glad when my mom's side decided to switch to tacos, which was one of the few things my maternal grandmother made really good.

Yesterday my kids were having one of those days where they just inhale everything in sight. At this age (2, 4, 5) that usually means that they eat next to nothing the next day. We shall see if that holds true within the hour. I'm already thinking the 2 year old will probably stick to the rolls. And MIL will spend the entire meal apologizing for how everything turned out. I swear I will never do that!

elliephant wrote:Oh, MiddleMamma, don't you dare apologize for your post! I totally needed to read it! And I still can't get boiled eggs to peel properly!

Supposedly the fresher the egg, the harder it is to peel

Too Tall Tomatoes wrote:

elliephant wrote:Oh, MiddleMamma, don't you dare apologize for your post! I totally needed to read it! And I still can't get boiled eggs to peel properly!

Supposedly the fresher the egg, the harder it is to peel

Yup. And most remedies to make eggs easier to peel are old wives tales. Vinegar, salt, oil, etc. Tried em all! Once or twice they will work for you and you think you have solved the worlds deviled eggs delima, only to have it fail in future attempts. Sometimes peeling eggs is the most frustrating on earth.
If I know we are going to do any eggs that need peeling. I leave totally fresh ones out for 2 weeks on the counter. If they have been refrigerated for awhile, I leave em on the counter for 2-3 days. Does it work

I find it makes it easier to peel them under running water. Just crack them lightly all over and roll them between your palms under running water, loosening the shell as the water runs over it. The water runs between the shell and the egg, making it easier to slip it off. It helps, but I don't know of anything that works 100% of the time to make it easier.

Oh my word, this thread is funny! I have no funny T-Day stories as my family is pretty boring but this year was the first year that fresh garden veggies were served. Carrots and radishes picked yesterday morning.

BYBG: I feel a little like you mother, I too get my mothers china out for dinner. LOL But I'm blessed with a hubby that is a clean freak and loves to clean the house for get togethers.