Friday Thanksgiving

contact77365
1 hour ago
3 min read

Well........our Friday night Thanksgiving wasn't a total disaster. Or was it? It actually felt like any other thanksgiving, just maybe a little different. What was different? It was actually nice having a day where Elaine and I just laid back and enjoyed the day. Thanksgiving that is.

No one was here, so we didn't have anyone to entertain. Elaine knitted most of the day. (Someone is getting something knitted for Christmas. Whether they like it or not.) Here's a quick holiday story.

Elaine has always enjoyed giving (and getting) handmade gifts. Our family was different. If there wasn't some cost to a gift it probably wasn't that well received. Before Elaine and I were married, Elaine knitted a sweater for a person in my family for Christmas. It would be safe to assume the sweater was not well received. Rumor has it the sweater went to a thrift store. At the time Elaine, Elaine would/could subsidize her/our income by selling her knitted goods at trade shows. When the gift recipient heard that Elaine sold sweaters for considerable amounts of money, the recipient went back to the store to buy the sweater.

This side note has nothing to do with our Friday Thanksgiving. I can't explain why I would remember the story today, but I did. I apologize, sort of.

Anyway, Elaine was free to watch three professional football games. Unfortunately, none of her favorite teams were playing so she didn't watch any of the games. She was able to devote all of her attention to knitting and reading and movie watching without guilt. I hung out, prepped a a couple dishes for the coming feast.

Friday came and two kids with their significant others arrived in the afternoon. That's the part that I mention went well. We didn't have a pre-set time for arrival, so we didn't have an actual dinner time. We had agreed that turkey was going to be the protein of choice. I decided to be creative with our cooking method and had purchased an air fryer specifically for turkey, ham, and roasts. Similar to the oil turkey fryers that have become popular, this air fryer is designed to be used outdoors.

The wind was blowing. It continually blew out the flame of the air fryer. No big deal, it was just taking longer than we expected and we had not decided on an exact mealtime.

Although, the turkey came with the plastic button to tell you when the turkey is at serving temperature. I bought a new meat thermometer. When the new thermometer said the turkey was done cooking, well done, the plastic button had not popped. What do you choose? I chose the meat thermometer. Wrong choice! The turkey was nowhere near finished cooking. No big deal, except for all the side dishes were ready.

Some of the dishes were cold, some dried out, but at least we got the turkey to the correct temperature. At about 5:00 o'clock in the evening it started to snow. It was the first snowstorm of the fall/winter. By 5:05 it had stopped snowing leaving about 1/4 inch on the ground.

Does this story remind you of the song, "To Grandmother's house we go"? The meal aside, we had a good time. The kids and their significant others all seem to like each other, plus they love me. But you know that.

I don't know what day Thanksgiving will be celebrated next year, we need to get through Christmas this year, but I guarantee I will know how the air fryer works by then.