Trying to give Thanks… giving

Here it is, Thanksgiving weekend and my favorite food is roast turkey. It was many years ago I informed my kids I was going to my ‘Uncle Gary’ in Edmonton for Thanksgiving. He and his family were planning a traditional turkey feast with all the fixings.

It’s like this… in our catering business, we had a great client that hired us every year to do a full traditional turkey feast for two weeks at 300 guests each night.  Over those many years, we all developed an aversion to Turkey. A crown roast of pork became our favorite meal for our own family holiday traditions.

The main meal in our catering was rotisserie barbequed triple A Angus beef, which was also off the table. Don’t get me wrong these were delicious and we built our business on the unique taste and presentation of our ‘always’ hand-carved beef. And so it came to pass that after retiring from the business, turkey came back into my life.

The catering business sold five years ago; I had retired a few years before that.  So here we are again … Thanksgiving weekend and I have no offers to partake in anyone’s Thanksgiving fare. Maybe it’s karma, but seems they all have different plans for this holiday. Some are in Kelowna, another is racing stockcars in Outlook and yet another is spending it with inlaws.

Coming from divorced families is a challenge when it comes to these holidays. You now have stepmoms, dads, half brothers, sisters, and.. well you get the picture. It’s hard sometimes, I have a granddaughter who dreads Xmas for that very reason. Grandkids get married and inlaws also get thrown into the mix and splitting time with everyone is almost impossible.

So it is I decided to roast a whole big turkey last Sunday which was not a holiday, and invite whoever wanted to come. This was a last-minute thing and I should have thought it out or at least planned it better. Ah well, I made the homemade cranberry sauce, set the bird out to defrost, peeled potatoes, and cooked the turnips. I planned to enjoy my company and not be prepping and cooking all the next day.

I then called everyone the next morning and that produced no takers, except my son and granddaughter whom I knew were coming over anyway. Turns out they were only coming for a morning swim and planned on buying me breakfast. Grandson would’ve come but I didn’t get his reply until it was too late to put the defrosted bird in the oven. The rest were working or had plans. Karma I know, but that turkey was huge!

The turnips were already cooked, mashed, and in the fridge, everyone hates turnips except me, so at least I got to enjoy them. Well, suck it up buttercup. I ended up roasting the bird the next day and decided, so be it. My son and his family did come over again, for supper this time. “Thank you” I got to visit with my youngest granddaughter two days in a row  :  )

When we get older pearls of wisdom tend to spew forth from our mouths (or so we think) but no one listens to old people. This could be payback from us yelling at them when they were younger, “Are you listening to me?” and “You better listen to me or you’ll be sorry?” … well, who’s sorry now? I think there’s a country song by that name :  )

Here I sit in front of my computer, feeling sorry for myself and wondering where I went wrong. I don’t think families are falling apart but sometimes it seems like it. OR, is it just me and my damn mouth, saying whatever I want, out loud? Maybe someone is listening… na. Well, I know this too shall pass, but that dam turkey is still hanging out in my fridge and I can’t eat any more leftovers, five days is enough already.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful for everything I have. Well except for that leftover turkey, it needs to be made into soup and hopefully I can down some of it that way. I’m full of thanks that my kids are at least close to me distance-wise when I’m not down south of the border. I’m still on the topside of the dirt, and no hearing aids or walker so far.

No one has come to take away my stove yet, cooking for one is such a drag, and I tend to eat a lot of cereal. I can still drive my car. My naps sometimes turn into sleeps, but who cares?  My book is coming along nicely, and I’ve had good feedback on it.

There seem to be a lot more wrinkles on my face, neck, and body but; I’ve treated myself to a new wrinkle remover cream and should be looking years younger within a month.

I hope my kids will recognize me when they see me again, okay that was not nice. Of course they will, my inner beauty will be shining through. Failing that, when I open my mouth those pearls will surely spring forth and hit them with an… AHA moment!

ya, I said that… and Happy Thanksgiving :  )

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October 13, 2024