It’s Sunday afternoon and I’m relaxing in a comfortable chair while watching football and reading. Meanwhile, a huge stockpot is on the stove in the next room and I’m making turkey stock. Don’t worry the turkey carcass was frozen immediately after dinner Thursday so all is good. This weekend has been a trifecta of Thanksgiving activity.
First, there was dinner on Thanksgiving. Lots of cooking. Most years I roast a turkey at home with full fixings – stuffing, mashed potatoes, and gravy. Every year as I am doing this year I use the turkey to make more stock and can it to use through the year always retaining one or two jars for the following Thanksgiving. As not everyone in the household eats land-based animals, I have to find creative ways to use the stock. In the fall and winter there are roasts with potatoes and gravy for those of us who enjoy the stock. And for Thanksgiving I always add a few chunks of roast salmon. This year personally I made the turkey with stuffing and potatoes and gravy, the sweet potato casserole, the salmon, vegetarian stuffing, and home baked bread. I found the four bottle bottle of Cabernet shown above at Costco. As always, I’m thankful for my friends and family, the continued health and prosperity of all of the above, and the good food. However, next year I kind of want to take a year off and head to New York City, maybe see the Macy’s Day Parade, and go to Bourbon Steak for dinner.
As an exception to the usual I went shopping Friday. My sister always heads to the Black Friday sales and has been for the past four decades but I usually avoid the crowds. This year I went because one of the teens needed to be somewhere at 8:30 in the morning and I had four and a half hours to kill in suburbia so I showed up at my favorite mall a little before 9am, found parking fairly easily, and watched as the mall became more and more crowded. I could have just as happily found a comfortable chair and sat with a book while watching people in the mall but instead I went shopping – some for me and some for family. Eventually I left the mall and went to other stores where I was promptly ignored so ordered online instead.
Finally, Saturday, and mainly because there was time and the kids were here, the tree went up and the house was decorated for the holiday. This is the end of the trifecta – decorating, and if you’ve done it you’ve completed your Thanksgiving holiday in my opinion. So we headed to the Optimist’s club where every year they have a Christmas tree sale and fundraiser. A couple of high school athlete volunteers helped us select a tree and fasten it to the car (I say “fasten” loosely as the tree had a very loose relationship with the car and I’m convinced that if we went on the beltway it would have become airborne and past tense). We brought it home and wrestled it into the tree stand and exercised one of the “great pains of Christmas” which is “stringing up the lights” and a couple hours later the tree was decorated and lit. The whole exercise from leaving the house to returning actually only took three hours.
Last night was the cap to the weekend. Wicked For Good is in the theaters and the kids wanted to see it so we went. I chose the Alamo Drafthouse so I could have an excuse to not cater dinner. The challenge is the expense…. Tickets are $25 each and a personal pizza, drink (or cocktail in my case), and box of candy total up to about $40 each person there. I think I could go see a musical at the Kennedy Center for that price.
In Retrospect 