Holiday Entertaining: My First Thanksgiving Dinner

Since it was my first holiday meal, we kept the guest list very small. I considered my seating options, completed my menu, and extended the invitations. I was serving members of my family whose reputations for cooking were second to none. I realize now that I put a lot of pressure on myself, and my dream to serve the perfect meal created more pressure than I should have encountered!

Once the invitations were extended, I sat down to complete my grocery list. My local supermarket was offering place settings of fine china in exchange for my grocery receipts. I had been collecting place settings of fine china for several months, and I was excited that my Thanksgiving table was going to be set with the beautiful china I had been collecting!

Turkey
Roasting Bag
Croutons
Onions
Celery
Sage
Potatoes
Milk
Butter
Flour
Kitchen Bouquet
Corn
Dinner Rolls
Cranberry Jelly
Pumpkin Pie Filling
Frozen Pie Crusts
Evaporated Milk
Sugar
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Ginger
Cool Whip
Coffee
Coffee Creamer
Tea Bags

Thanksgiving morning arrived, and I was up bright and early... well, it was early, but not quite so bright! Winter in Ohio is anything but bright at 5:00 in the morning! Nevertheless, even though it was still dark and I was shivering, I was up and ready to cook that bird.

I reached in and pulled my turkey out of the freezer, and that's when my emotions began to get really fired up! The freezer? Yes, I said the freezer. I thought I had the details under control... but I didn't realize that I should have taken the turkey out of the freezer the day before Thanksgiving!

As you can imagine, I was a wreck...
I fussed and fumed for a while as I tried to figure out what to do.

I opened the turkey and placed it into a sinkful of cold water. Little by little, the ice began to melt away but I still couldn't get the giblets out of the main cavity. I was growing more and more stressed as the clock continued to tick, and my turkey wasn't anywhere near ready for the oven!

I continued to run water over the bird... by now I was desperate enough to begin using warm water. Okay, so I was desperate enough that I finally turned on the hot water! I was finally able to remove the bag of giblets, so I placed them into a pot of water to boil for use in making my stuffing.

I turned the oven on to preheat, and placed the still somewhat frozen turkey into the roasting bag. I was mentallly calculating the required cooking time, and stressing because I just knew that this turkey wasn't going to be ready on time!

Well, I finally got that bird into the oven, and all seemed to finally be progressing as it should be. I left the oven light on so I could keep a close eye on dinner... the skin began to deepen into a golden shade of brown, and the house was filled with the aroma of roasting turkey.

I turned my attention to preparing the rest of the meal, and that's when I discovered another blunder. I now realized that I should also have baked my pies the day before! The oven was filled to overflowing with the roasting pan, so the pies were going to have to wait until the bird was finished cooking.

Deep sigh... oh, my.

I began the process of chopping the celery and onions for my stuffing, then added the giblets once they were completely cooked and cooled. All seemed to be going well, but something about that turkey just didn't seem to be quite right.

I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but something just wasn't right...

I hovered back and forth as I made the stuffing, then back to take another peek at the bird...
It was cold and snowy outside, but the house seemed to be just as cold as the great outdoors. As the nagging feeling of error persisted, I finally realized that the oven had stopped working! I had turned the furnace down because the kitchen was keeping the entire house nice and cozy, but since the oven had stopped, the rest of the house had become quite chilly indeed!

It took a little time but I finally discovered the reason the oven had stopped working. I had unintentionally set the timer when I turned the oven on, so the oven had automatically shut itself off!

Grrr!

Well, needless to say, I was completely frantic by this point. This was no tiny turkey, so I KNEW that it wouldn't be ready to serve when my guests arrived. I was so disappointed, and my heart was breaking... I felt like such a failure!

Wow, was I ever hard on myself!

I was in tears when my family arrived... the table was set and the house was cozy and warm again, but the food wasn't anywhere near ready for us to eat. I was in desperate need of consolation, so I took it quite hard when both of my moms threw their heads back and laughed at me!

Talk about adding insult to injury! I didn't realize it then, but they were both laughing at memories of the bad turkey days of their own. All I knew at that moment was that I felt like a failure and they were laughing at me.

LOL, live and learn, Kids. Live and learn.

I had expected complete perfection from myself, and was sure that everyone would be upset. That was the furthest thing from the truth... they were simply glad to have been invited, and were enjoying the pleasure of being the guests for my first Thanksgiving Dinner!

I finally began to settle down a little bit as the parents moved to the living room for some chit chat, and I was able to put the rest of the meal on the table. The turkey came out, the pies went in... and we sat down to enjoy the food.

Amazingly, the turkey turned out pretty well. But, as luck would have it... my embarassing moments were far from being over. Carving the turkey revealed the fact that there was a second bag of giblets in the backside of that bird. I didn't know it was there, so I didn't know I had needed to take it out!

More laughter from the moms... again, I say; GRRR!

LOL, I wish I could have seen my own face at that time. I might have lightened up a bit and had a little more fun. But, the fun was at my expense and I was an expert at taking myself very, very seriously!

I have to laugh as I continue this story... I was hardly able to eat, but I tried. Everything seemed fine except for the stuffing. I winced as I took my first bite, then had to suffer yet another round of tears as I realized that everyone else had already discovered my last and final culinary faux pas.

The stuffing was baked to perfection, with chunks of onion and celery adding bright spots of color to the golden toasted orbs of finely seasoned bread...

The stuffing was beautiful to look at, but one taste told me that something had gone terribly, terribly wrong with the seasoning. What was that taste? Once I was able to speak again, we all realized that I had grabbed the ginger instead of the sage I had been reaching for.

It was terrible! It felt like there was enough ginger in that pan to choke a horse! Well, by that time, the entire family was in an uproar. Everyone was laughing, and joking, and choking... and doing their level best to make sure I knew how much they loved me, and that they were having a wonderful time!

That experience was many years ago, and it's nice to realize that I have finally overcome some of my perfectionistic tendencies! I'm still my own worst critic, but I really have learned to lighten up and not take myself so seriously... at least not all of the time!

Now that I have a few more years of life under my belt, I have come to appreciate the mercy that is carried within the laughter of mom's who have also "been there and done that!"

Life is much more fun when the tables turn, and see yourself with new eyes. A good time was had by all, and the memories that were created that day are just what I needed for my first lens in the "Get Cracking" Challenge! It's funny how life works together for everyone's good, isn't it?

It has taken many years, but the story is finally out! I have many more to share, so I'm looking forward to participating in the challenge to write a story for each of the topics that Bonnie & Robin bring to our lensbuilding challenge.

So, how about you... do you have a first turkey nightmare? If so, please visit my guest book, and tell us all about it!

Connie Walcott

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