When a brisk and bright autumn afternoon blends with the comforting warmth and welcoming smell of Thanksgiving dinner in the oven, you know it's gonna be a good day!
What is truly better than crisp air, crackling leaves and a 26 pound Turkey with all of the fixings?
How about having the family and friends around to enjoy it?
I am a huge fan of Thanksgiving for a whole bunch of reasons. It happens during my absolute favourite season, it involves food - buying it, cooking it, and eating it in abundance - all of which I quite enjoy - and the day typically involves a nicely decorated table (wait - LOVE that), visitors (REALLY LOVE THAT), celebration and sports...playing, watching - whatever!
The bottom line is - the sum of almost everything I enjoy - except traveling and writing - seems to be neatly packaged into one long weekend in October - I even love the long weekend part! AND this year, as an added bonus, the celebration includes my son's 19th birthday - so how can it possibly get any better? Well here's the thing...there's a nasty four letter word lurking in the shadows, ready to rain on my brisk and bright autumn day...It stands for discipline in eating turkey...or DIET!
So how can I possibly reconcile the fragrant smell of my stuffing (trust me, my stuffing rocks!), the smoothness of my home made gravy (yeah - it's smooth), the sweetest sweet potatoes, and of course the 26 pound king of the feast - with my perpetual images of being on a cruise ship trying to cover up the aftermath of too much pumpkin pie! Thanksgiving will be the toughest challenge yet, on my journey to cruise-readiness.
I just landed from a business trip - and the restaurant thing was tough enough - but it doesn't even come close to the temptation that will consume every inch of my kitchen in a very short time!
From Monday to Friday last week, I said no to the bread, no to the gravy, asked for dressing on the side and went to the hotel gym at an ungodly hour to get treadmill time. I guess the sacrifice was easily worth the benefit in this case. But when it comes to Thanksgiving, we're taking the willpower game to a whole new level...this is now the superbowl of sacrifices and I don't know if I'm up for the challenge...For years, my turkey day has been wrapped in tradition - and every tradition has a calorie count connected to it! I traditionally peel 10 pounds of potatoes, create a sweet potato casserole (yes it's a CREATION), chop everything for stuffing and make a home made cranberry sauce the night before . This tradition may not sound "fattening" at first, but do you know how many glasses of wine are involved in this kind of prep? The next morning, we baste, stuff, baste some more, and assemble all of the fresh veggies and appetizers - yes - it's morning - so no wine, but a little taste testing goes on...Then the celebration - the dinner, the toasts to all that we are thankful for - the pies and the aperatifs...that's where we go into overtime in the sacrifice department! What to do...
As I mull the situation over and strategize a game plan, I start by asking what the biggest sacrifice of all would be...and the answer truly isn't "not eating turkey and stuffing".
I believe - on deeper reflection - that true sacrifice on Thanksgiving would be not having people around to share the turkey and stuffing. Not having Mark and my kids, parents and rest of our family and friends that make their way to our Thanksgiving table tell me how much THEY enjoy the meal...A bigger sacrifice would be that we don't have laughter at the dinner table, or that we have nothing to say when toasting all that we are thankful for...the sacrifice would be giving up the opportunity to share the abundance and be thankful for the abundance - not eat in abundance. So...next Monday - as I lay out my table, prepare the food and take a walk to the park to throw a football or hear the leaves crackle underfoot - I will cherish those things I'm truly thankful for - and the Discipline in Eating Turkey won't seem so tough at all!
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