The book club had a mini-Thanksgiving meeting this past weekend. We have a number of vegetarians in our group, so there was Tofurky.
Go ahead. Be afraid. We were afraid. Even the vegetarians were afraid... who had attempted to bake fake turkey in the past and... we'll say it was overcooked. It's memory frightened our non-meat eaters. We were all aghast at Johanna's bravery to go where no sensible vegetarian would ever go again.
And, it actually was not terrible. For her friends, she took on the challenge and made something slightly more than edible. I'll admit, I'm grateful for the wild rice center and the lovely gravy, but it was not horrible, it was not scary, and we all ate it with surprised delight along with green salad, bread rolls, cranberry sauce, potato salad, pumpkin pie, and oyster stuffing (It's a family tradition in Johanna's family).
My friends are good sports. We enjoy celebrating holidays together in the ways we can... which usually means before or after the actual day. We all have families to visit, obligations to fulfill, etc. So, since we can't do it all in one day, can't eat but so much in each home, we celebrate when we can.
I remember when I was in my first long term relationship and we did the holiday run-around. I actually enjoyed it. On one day, I was able to see so many people I cared about. Yeah, it's a lot of food, a lot of driving, and this old boyfriend really didn't care for the stress of it. But, making time for those people... I never found it stressful. Sure, I didn't want to leave my own family when it was time to see someone else, and the driving didn't always go in a convenient or efficient order, but on these days, I saw so many people, as many people as I reasonably could, that matter so very much to me.
But, then, families do this run-around, too. One of my friends' is having three separate Thanksgiving dinners to be with three different sides of family. Another friend is celebrating Christmas this Thursday, on top of Thanksgiving, so that they the whole family can be together (one member needs to go out of town for Christmas).
And then there's me. For the first Thanksgiving in my life, I will be in another state than my mother. So, since my mother knows how immature I am about not being able to fit all my families across the States in one day, she's also preparing a mini-Thanksgiving for me on Sunday after I teach... so I can have my favorite holiday dish.
This is the dish my grandmother made for me whenever I asked. If it was summer, if it was my birthday, it didn't matter. She knew it was my favorite. When I was a "bad vegetarian" from ages 10 to about 15, she would make it for me just because she knew I would eat an entire plate of it. We have never really gotten it right yet, it still doesn't taste exactly the same as hers, but we keep trying, and my year can't end and begin again without it.
So, Mom's making me Wagner stuffing. On Sunday. A nothing day that will become my own special Thanksgiving.
I had Thanksgiving with my friends, and I'll have a Thanksgiving with my family, and then I'll have Thanksgiving with the rest of my family. It's about the meals we have together... that a few times a year, as many of us that are able get together to share a meal of the foods we can depend on. Turkey, green beans, bread, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing, pecan pie, wine, apple cider... and the list goes on with special things many of us agree are our favorite dishes. And no one makes them like your aunt, his older brother, or my grandmother.
It's just a dinner, a dinner for which we all know the menu year after year... but it reminds us what time it is, what day it is, and for whom we must travel the distance either in the car or choosing our own special day so we can be together.
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