December 02nd, 2019

Well this is us.  Tim and I, then niece Carrie and her beau, Russ  and of course, Joy and Bob Good lookin' group eh?

Our Thanksgiving here was a balmy 81 degrees with beautiful sunshine.  Not the weather one might traditionally associate with Thanksgiving, granted, but at least nobody had to drive on snowy, icey roads!

I called "slacker" this year and suggested that we eat out at a restaurant instead of cooking.  To my surprise (and delight) everyone was on board.  From the great minds think alike collection.  Joy always encourages me to, "Do something easy"  She's right.  It isn't necessary to fret and fuss over the meal!  It's not a requirement.

Tim did some research and chose Seasons 52 as the restaurant and made reservations.  It's a nice place and we were treated very well.  There was a choice of the "traditional Thanksgiving Feast' or ordering off the standard menu.   Four of the six of us opted for traditional. 

I was one of the traditionalists which is funny because I've spent many many Thanksgivings eating very non-traditional foods.  Spaghetti or PBJ sandwiches were just as apt to show up on our childhood Thanksgiving table as turkey.   As an adult I've experimented with roast beef, seafood or ham as well as bird.  But today, for me,   I think it was all about the mashed potatoes.  As I told my niece, "mashed potatoes are life". I do love mashed taters. 

The traditional meal was turkey, of course, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, stuffing, green beans, squash and yeast rolls.   The rolls were a little herby which I am not a fan of.  But most people seemed to like them. They had pumpkin butter to go with.  Very festive.  Everything else was very nice. Well to be absolutely honest the cranberry sauce was too sweet. But I suspect that is just a personal preference.  I kind of like some tartness in my cranberry.

Dessert was a shot-glass sized dish with alternate layers of pumpkin mousse and spice cake.  It was excellent.   However, it wasn't pie.  Dang.   I really like pie.  I especially like leftover pie for breakfast the next day.

Come to think of it, I also like turkey sandwiches the next day and we won't have that either.  Double dang. So you see, when one opts for Thanksgiving at a restuarant (And dang it,  that was my idea)  there is a built-in compromise.

For all the convenience of eating out, there are no yummy leftovers for sandwich making and breakfast pie consuming.  That's kind of disappointing.  On the other hand, I didn't have to clean and cook for two days.

So let's weigh this up.  Not having to do the "company cleaning"  and make two or three pies the day before and then making turkey, biscuits, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, green peas, gravy the day of plus all the clean up versus a fridge full of leftovers for so many yummy meals in the days to come. Oooooo. That is a tough one. 

You know what, it doesn't matter. It  was a good  day and a terrific meal with great company and that really is the only thing that matters.

It's actually not the first time that Tim and I have had Thanksgiving at a restaurant.  The last few years that we lived in Colorado we drove up to Estes Park every year, had Thanksgiving dinner in a restaurant and stayed at the Stanley for a few days, hanging around town, enjoying Rocky Mountain State Park and the Illuminated Parade.  

There was no leftover pie or roast turkey sandwiches then either. And I survived.

But this was the first time since we moved to Florida that we celebrated Turkey day at a restaurant.  I'm not sure if this is going to become a "thing' or not yet.  We shall see what the future brings.  

In short, we already broke with our Florida Thanksgiving tradition this year because a) I didn't cook b) we didn't have a giant puzzle to work on c) we didn't walk to the beach  BUT we did take the traditional Thanksgiving Day photo !!!  We did eat together!  Pumpkin and turkey were involved!  And more importantly, there were mashed potatoes.   Life is good.

Hope your Thanksgiving Day was something for which you are truly thankful.

​ Ours absolutely was!