Lakeland College

Lakeland College Counselor Weblogs

Leftovers
Posted on 11/27/2006 7:53:38 AM

Well my cherished Thanksgiving Day was here and gone so fast.  To be honest I was quite paranoid with the over-all day because I had for some unknown reason decided to volunteer my 2-bedroom apartment for the hosting grounds.  As I gradually invited just my husband's and my immediate families it sprouted to be more of a crowd of nearby friends including my husband's basketball coaches and families and his players as well.  The thought of having several 6'0 and up guys gathering for a feast was pretty intimidating -I've seen what they're capable of eating. 

The dinner in itself wasn't the part that really scared me because I have the type of mom that likes to be very involved in the preparations, and I mean very.  She loves to cook and by all means it is not a bad thing because her meals are fabulous and quite generous in proportion sizes.  Her level of involvement with gatherings and get-togethers does tend to be on the overbearing side of things.  I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about.  Let me use some examples of some of her pre-Thanksgiving Day calls.  She called several times, probably months in advance to go over the menu for the day, each time recapping on information we had already discussed and decided on.  She called and volunteered to pick up my turkey for me (the only thing that I was actually in charge of doing on my own) because she was in the grocery store and there was this unbelievable sale and she must not think we have grocery stores in Sheboygan.  Then there were the numerous calls after I got the turkey and how much I paid for it, where I got it, how big it was, and if I knew how to cook it, prepare it, and serve it.  The couple days before Thanksgiving she had to call to find out if I had the proper serving bowls for her dishes because they should be matching.  Then the day of she planned to get to our apartment at 9am because she had a lot of things to throw together and the dinner was at noon.  She called me that morning at 7am to go over again what she was bringing and I mean these were bizarre things like her own coffeemaker because she knows I don't have one and she couldn't drink instant, she had to bring her own crockpot because she didn't think mine would suit and her own Thanksgiving napkins because mine weren't Thanksgiving themed.  Wow.  But enought about my mom, I love her really.

We had plenty of food and great company and no, I didn't burn the Turkey or have anything crazy happen with my food.  My two sisters, my brother-in-law, and my two young nieces stayed overnight and we played the board game Clue, because with kids we invitably had to stay in for the night, and we're old so we go to bed early.  With the chaos came the leftovers when everyone departed.  I had 3 loads of laundry with all the extra sheets and towels to wash.  The floors and counters had to be re-cleaned, dishes were washed about 3 times, and the trash definitely had to be taken out with the lingering scent of dirty diapers.  Then the Thanksgiving decorations came down and Christmas ones have yet to be put up.  The leftover food is definitely the best though.

Here's hoping your Turkey days were just as action-packed!