Thanksgiving - take 2

It's November 29th and I'm pulling a 16lb turkey out of my oven, whisking gravy and chopping up celery and onions. A little late you might think? It's not all my fault. My husband is half to blame.

This year, around 1pm on last Thursday, yes, THE famous Thursday, I looked around my kitchen and stared at the clean room. We had out-of-town family coming in, so I wanted it to be in respectable condition. The day before I hired a "Rescue" cleaner to help me out, as this is my busiest time of the year in my business. I opened the cupboard to look at the perfectly clean bowls, the roasting pan tucked away on the shelf in the closet, meat lifters, and gravy separator, longing for action! German steel cutlery shiny and at home, in the knife block. Not only was I NOT hosting this year, I was told to bring an appetizer. An appetizer, yep. That is it! A boring, old veggie tray even. Nothing fancy. 

It's true, we have great cooks in our family. All under-utilized this year. Highly skilled, Karen was bringing wine, Mary, "queen of the home-made chex mix" off the hook. Mo was out of town, and Grandma was not even required to make her traditional "moldy saddle" (also known as a "molded salad") ... Only Megan, a professionally trained pastry chef was making anything - and it was a delicious apple cake and a peanut butter chocolate pie (Good call on that one). My dad was making everything else! My Mom was assisting. Second seating was at my Mother-in-law's house - and we were having turkey sandwiches for the second Thanksgiving meal, since it was a later-night get together, so I didn't need to bring anything there either! All done. Don't get me wrong, it's really nice to show up and not bring anything. No pressure, no last minute running around. Very relaxing.

What is wrong with me then, you ask? Why am I duplicating a menu that I did not have to do this year?
I confess, something is clearly wrong with me. I actually enjoy it. That, and the fact that we didn't come home with enough left-overs! It was Matt's idea to make the turkey,  and thanks to a big turkey sale at Sam's club yesterday, here we are! The good news is we have plenty. (I am shaking my head thinking, really, what am I doing??) Let me know if you are hungry, dinner is served at 5pm.