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I was sitting by the fireplace wrapped in my afghan sipping tea. Chills were running up and down my spine and my head felt as if someone had loaded bricks on it. It was Monday, about ten years ago. Thanksgiving lurked around the corner. I knew I had to make a decision. My heart wanted to prepare a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner in my new yellow two-story home but my body wasn’t cooperating.
I called my oldest daughter, Julie and heard myself saying that I just couldn’t do it. The flu had captured me in it’s fiery claws and would not let go. Julie immediately responded by saying that she would be glad to have Thanksgiving but did I have recipes? Julie had never attempted this. (This was years ago, now she is a seasoned holiday entertainer for sure.)
I assured Julie that I would write down everything I could think of about Thanksgiving to assure that she wouldn’t be bogged down with unexpected surprises and run out of time.
I sipped my tea and began to write. This is what I said:
(1) Make out a menu. Assign each family member one or more items to bring. Keep a list of what each person is bringing. When I host Thanksgiving, I usually let someone else prepare time-consuming things, such as desert. My son-in-law and daughter, Anissa and Chuck will usually bring homemade cheesecake of different flavors…..it is so yummy!
(2) Do your grocery shopping on Tuesday with a complete list of all items.
(3) Start thawing the turkey out on Tuesday. We thaw our out in a large Styrofoam cooler.
(4) Also on Tuesday: Cut up onions and celery. Place in zip-lock containers and refrigerate. Cook cranberry sauce and refrigerate (I use recipe on package of cranberries; the aroma as you are cooking the cranberries is wonderful!)
(5) Wednesday – If you are having gravy that contains boiled eggs, go ahead and boil your eggs, cut up finely, cover and refrigerate. If you are making cornbread-biscuit dressing, bake cornbread and biscuit s today. (I will give you my recipe) I keep the cornbread and biscuits in the oven after baking.
(6) Wednesday, also: I make angel biscuits and keep in refrigerator. (I will also give you this recipe.) Get out table linens and wash if they need it. Make sure you have enough of everything. If you are having over night guests, change and wash sheets; put last minute touches on guest room
(7) Thursday: First thing in the morning, set the table.
(8) As guests arrive, if they want to help, let them!
(9) Promise yourself to relax with your guests and go with the flo. Pat yourself on the back. You did it!
Have fun with your children. It is the perfect time to read them the story of Pollyanna. One good character trait is being grateful for all we have. To refresh yourself on this heart-wrenching story click http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/pollyanna/synopsis.html. It would even be fun to buy (or rent) the cd version with Haley Mills and Jane Wyman – 1960 http://www.amazon.ca/Pollyanna-Widescreen-Discs-David-Swift/dp/B00005RRGB.
Another good activity for you and your children is to go through toys that they have outgrown and put aside some for children in need. Let your child help pick out the toys and be a big part of this process. He or she will feel so good for doing this. There are many places that collect toys around the holidays and no doubt the thankfulness theme will be understood as your child looks at all the toys that he has.
Perhaps we all should play the “glad game" that Pollyanna promoted and count our blessings. I know I have many, many wonderful blessings in my life.
My Menu is usually:
Turkey, Dressing, Cranberry Sauce, Squash Casserole and Broccoli Casserole and Angel Biscuits. All of these recipes can be found at Frannie’s Fantastic Free Recipes (on navigation list) or http://www.goodcharacterpress.com/id12.html
Happy Thanksgiving. May you bless and be blessed!
Fran Larson
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