Thanksgiving memories being made

by Tammy Hall Parker on Friday, November 26, 2010 at 4:27am

We didn't really start having a family Thanksgiving meal until just a few years ago. My mom used to have one every year until she started to work and all of her other kids decided they would spend it with their spouses family instead. I never really thought about the dinner part of it. I mean lets face it since Jeff and I got married with what we did for a living we worked every Thanksgiving. Then I happened to be off one year (and no jokes about me being off just one year) and Jeff was home so Kelcy asked why we didn't make a huge dinner like everyone else. I thought about it and said why not. Ha now I know...I had only tried in ohhhh I won't say how many years to cook a turkey about every 4 years or so. Never really got the hang of it. On my first try nobody said it took forever to thaw a frozen turkey. On my second try no one told me there was stuff ewww inside the turkey before I cooked it, you can only guess how long it took to throw that one out. The next one went ok except the thingy that popped out and said the turkey was ready didn't automatically brown the stupid thing so it looked really gross. Now I have decided with the girls that it is not so much whether the turkey is edible or if it looks like a Martha Stewart picture, it's the fun we have together just trying to get the stupid bird in a small oven. Besides who fixed Martha a turkey while she did time? Should have been me I would have had a ball! lol I had never seasoned a turkey until a couple of years ago and since my mom won't eat anything with less than 4 legs she was no help. So I didn't get a cookbook I decided I would open the cabinet and take out whatever looked like something a t.v. cook might use. Just wanted to point out here don't lube up the turkey before getting in the pan...you would think that thing grew back feathers and learned to fly. lmao...and so were the girls. I had bought the turkey cooking bag only to learn that the stupid bird wouldn't fit in the oven with a bag once it got hot so out of the bag it flew, uh came. Anyway after an hour of prep time and alot of challenges the turkey was in the oven. I decided this year I would try to baste the stupid thing whatever you do that for, guess what it turned brown. Yea for the team! First edible turkey. I think family history was made that year and now we have decided it really doesn't matter after the last few years whether or not the turkey can be ate or if it goes out in a bag to the garbage, it was the fun we have trying to get it right. I never write down what we put in or on the bird just try anything we can get our hands on every year. And yes this means it never tastes the same but who cares when you spend a couple of hours laughing with your kids? I hope when they grow up and have kids of their own they don't write anything down just rub stuff on and pour stuff over year after year and have as much fun. A little disclaimer here...no frozen turkeys were seriously harmed while making this Thanksgiving tradition. Just a huge mess to clean up on the counters while it cooked. :) Oh, and can someone tell me what you do with that nasty stuff inside that we all look at each other and say "you get it out I got it out of Tom last year"? Just kidding I know what it's suppose to be used for but why tell them till I have to? He He He. Now I just love Thanksgiving and this is just one more thing I have to be thankful for. My family, my friends, our health and the people that put turkeys in the freezer for us to play with. lol