Enjoying and After Dinner Moment (Me, My Mum, DD Daughter, and Willie's Wife)- 1979?

Word of the Day

Dognut - The giant nut on the side of a fire hydrant.

I've been trying to remember the first Thanksgiving dinner I ever cooked. There have been so many that I've begun to lose track. I think it was the one where my folks were out of town (I was still going to college...single, hadn't met HTP yet) and I made a baked chicken instead of a turkey because I think there were only four of us. Not enough people to actually commit to making an entire turkey and I don't think you could buy partial turkeys in those days. I do remember that my brother was there. Maybe he has some of the pictures from that day. I might have some pictures but I have a lot of pictures (slides) that I haven't converted to digital as yet. And some photos are just tucked away in boxes. I do remember that my stuffed chicken tasted wonderful as did the entire Thanksgiving dinner. I don't know why my folks might have been out of town at that time. I suspect that they were visiting my Grandmother in Wisconsin? I'd say that I was probably the same age as #1 Son is now which would make my brother three years older than that. My folks were "empty-nesters"....kinda...except when I had to vacate the dorm because everyone had gone home for the holidays.

Actually, HTP is the one who has been converted our old slides, Polaroids and photos to digital. I don't have that kind of tech genius. As soon as HTP has his new office up and running (the desk is the last hurdle), I'm going to see if I can get him to continue work on the photo restoration project. We have lots of pictures that we don't even remember when we took them. *sigh* One of these days I'll have to have my children help us with that. But, I digress....

The reason for my memory search is that DD Daughter tells me that she's going to be making Thanksgiving dinner for GI Joe and his family this year. I know that this won't be the first time that she's made a Thanksgiving dinner but I'm pretty sure that this is the first time she's making a Thanksgiving dinner for GI Joe's family. Oh, the pressure, the stress! I can't remember the first time I made a special dinner for HTP's folks. I've probably blocked it from my memory. The stress of having to cook for your Mother-in-Law for the first time is something that is difficult to explain even if that your mother-in-law is the nicest person in the world and I can truthfully say that mine has always been wonderful to me. However, it's kind of like taking a final exam and she's the one who is going to give you your grade. I'd married her oldest son and I was being graded on the following classes. Feeding Your Husband 101. Entertaining 101. Good Housekeeping 101. I felt like I was taking all three final exams for these classes at the same time. Did I pass? Of course I passed. I'm a wonderful cook but I'm pretty sure that my confidence in that area was rather lacking back then. Plus, as you're sitting there taking those final exams....what a nightmare. I'm pretty sure I aced the Feeding Your Husband 101 exam. As for the others....I'm betting that I barely made it through by the skin of my teeth. I'm sure everything was cleaner than clean before I started to cook but keeping up with the dishes afterwards? She helped. I told you that she was nice.

This Thanksgiving, I plan to let someone else do the cooking. However, I'll be thinking about DD Daughter taking her final exams. I know she'll do just fine.

Murphyism of the Day

Howe's Theory

There is some advice that is too good - the advice to love your enemies, for example.

Noteworthy Quote of the Day

Peace is when time doesn't matter as it passes by. - Maria Schell