The First Thanksgiving Turkey Disaster

Decades ago, D&B celebrated our first Thanksgiving in Georgia, hosting B's parents who had flown in for the holiday. This would be the first time that D cooked Thanksgiving dinner for her in-laws or for anyone for that matter.

Wanting to impress her in-laws, especially her mother-in-law, D pulled out recipe book after recipe book and made one long distance call after another to her father, the family chef, for his secret turkey cooking tips.

The table was set with the fine china, the family silver, and fresh fall flowers. The soon-to-be family favorites green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, fruit salad, cornbread dressing, and chocolate pie were ready. It was time to unveil the turkey.

Fresh out of the oven, the 22 lb. turkey was picture perfect - golden brown with luscious, aromatic broth. B grabbed the carving set and made the first slice into the turkey breast, and, of course, had to take a taste of the 'cookbook' perfect looking turkey.

That's when he realized that the turkey breast meat wasn't very hot. In fact, it barely was lukewarm. What was wrong? Well, after a bit of turkey investigation, he discovered that the plastic bags with the turkey innards were still 'inside' the turkey. Chef D seemed to have missed the critical step of turkey cooking - REMOVE all bags inside the turkey cavity.

Needless to say, that Thanksgiving feast was turkey free...and the mother-in-law was not impressed!

Yes, Virginia, There Still Is a Thanksgiving

The one holiday that Americans - no matter what their religion - can celebrate together is Thanksgiving, the day our nation and our people 'offically' give thanks for our blessings.

Unfortunately, Thanksgiving Day is now the forgotten holiday. The one that we seem to squeeze in between Halloween and Christmas.

Years ago, Thanksgiving was the day that kicked off the Christmas season. We started our Christmas shopping the day AFTER Thanksgiving. Stores' Christmas decorations went up AFTER Thanksgiving. Christmas songs and carols began playing AFTER Thanksgiving. Children made their Santa list AFTER Thanksgiving, and Santa made his first appearance in ON Thanksgiving in the Macy's parade.

That's not the case in 2011. Christmas decorations have been up in the local big box stores since early October - often displayed right next to the Halloween masks and candy. The day AFTER Halloween Christmas music was playing in the local Walmart. And Santa is already here. Unbelievably, he arrived at one area store on November 6. What's next? Santa sharing the stage with the Great Pumpkin?

Here's an idea. Let's bring back Thanksgiving. Put aside the hub-bub of Christmas until AFTER Thanksgiving. Relish in the beauty and bounty of fall. Bring out the mums and pumpkin/turkey decorations. Take more time than just Thanksgiving dinner to reflect on our blessings. More importantly, let's celebrate Thanksgiving from November 1 to the day AFTER Thanksgiving.