It seems like every year my family has to do a big back-and-forth debate over who gets to host Thanksgiving, who brings what, whether we have turkey or ham and the like. I don’t like picking sides in family arguments, so this year, I decided to be proactive.
In September, before the debate could start, I called my mother and grandmother and offered to host the family for Thanksgiving. I told them I wanted to take the stress of cleaning, cooking and finding enough chairs off them. They immediately accepted. That should have tipped me off.
So, everyone is coming to my house for Thanksgiving. I plan to cook both turkey and ham, stuffing – the yankee term for dressing and annual reminder I’m a tourist – mashed potatoes and a dessert of some sort. I’ve only done this a few times before, but the last was in the dorm kitchen of Rice Hall at Mississippi State University. If I can cook a Thanksgiving meal in a dorm kitchen, I’m pretty sure I can pull it off with a “real” stove.
With plans made in September, I had hoped to avoid the stress and nerves that come with having both my mother and grandmother in my home at the same time. If I’m being completely honest, being a single guy with two dogs means my house is a train wreck 364 days of the year. The stress is definitely here.
Cleanliness, however, is the least of my worries. I am more than capable of sweeping, mopping and scrubbing for a few hours while the turkey cooks, yet as Thanksgiving inches closer, I am slowly becoming more and more aware I don’t have a dining room table. In fact, I don’t have any tables. I usually eat dinner sitting on the couch with Alice and Arlo, my two lab-mixes, attempting, and usually succeeding, in stealing off my plate. It works for me, but something tells me grandma might not feel the same way.
After pricing tables, I still have no solution. I shared my concerns with my mom, and after a bout of laughter at my dilemma, she is going to see if she can find a folding table to bring along. Hopefully, a folding table will work. I may try to find a table cloth to make the holiday at least appear like I know what I’m doing.
Thanksgiving is supposed to be a time to be grateful for friends and family, and I truly am grateful for mine. I am also grateful for the learning experience planning all of this has been. I am already looking forward to next year’s pre-Thanksgiving drama.
Having everyone over, no matter what the outcome, is sure to be an experience we’ll be talking about for years to come. How painful those future discussions are for me remains to be seen. Let’s just say I’m banking on a family’s unconditional love this holiday season. Happy Thanksgiving!
Thomas Howard is the managing editor of The Newton County Appeal. You can contact him at thoward@newtoncountyappeal.com.
