It was a unique and special Thanksgiving. At first the idea was to go to a closed restaurant and sit at small socially distant tables. It would have been lovely but due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control that was vetoed and an alternate plan was activated. No one was in charge, which meant everyone was in charge. Salads were ordered, cooking started, desserts were in overwhelming supply. We had enough food to feed all the Pilgrims with their Native American friends.
Lets start backwards from last course to first. There was a lemon creme brûlée pie, a two layered carrot cake, blueberry, apple, strawberry rhubarb pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and a dark chocolate mouse cake. We didn’t, bother with the Dairy Queen ice cream cake because that seemed like overkill. The main courses included, turkey, a ham, and a brisket. Side dishes were potatoes— sweet with marshmallows and mashed, string beans with those fabulous fake onions and mushroom soup, stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy. For first course there were two kinds of salad and an Italian antipasto, cheeses, meats, peppers and olives. It sounds like a great deal of food for an small army of hungry guests. And so it was. only none of us ate together. It was COVID sensitive. We all brought the food. Carmen made the turkey. Amy made her extraordinary sweet and mashed potato’s and the ham. Joannie was responsible for the appetizers and desserts and I made the string beans. There has never been a Thanksgiving when I did the least amount of work until yesterday. There was no stress or drama. We all arrived separately between 4:30 and 6:15, picked up whatever food we wanted, yelled hello to Billy our host who stayed upstairs, and took the gargantuan amount of whatever we desired to our own homes. It was fantastic. Dr. Fauci would have been proud.
The interesting thing was that somehow, with everyone doing something, me the least, it was a take home dinner with all the love invested in the food and all the concerns for health respected. For the last seven or so years we have celebrated all the holidays and special occasions at my cousin Billy’s. He is a great host. He spares no expense and seems to enjoy the festivities as much as the rest of us. But this was the first time I can remember that we delivered and took away the food. Sure we missed the bonding but it was a round robin of sorts... even though the food was in one place, different people dropped and took home the goodies.
We did take a moment to remember that on Thanksgiving we always took mom to the hospital. And for the years before she moved all the friends had dinner with their families and then gathered at my house for desserts. We also took a moment to remember the empty seats at the table for people who are gone now. We also celebrated all the family who participated in this ever memorable holiday. Hope your holiday was equally enchanting. We’re just sayin’.....Iris
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