Thrown Together Thanksgiving

This was a weird Thanksgiving.  It was weird in a good way, but weird all the same.  Usually we celebrate at our home, with our 4 kids and often a few friends.  This year, my oldest son couldn’t come home for Thanksgiving, and my husband was scheduled to work at 2am on Black Friday, so he would be going to bed really early the night before.

My husband suggested that me and the other 3 kids pack up and go visit the older son, so he wouldn’t be by himself on Thanksgiving.   I was going to need to drive there anyway, since my middle son who did come home, needed to return to college (same college as oldest son).  Okay – sounded great to me.  My plan was to just take the kids out to eat for a nice Thanksgiving meal.  I assumed some places would be open that were serving a wonderful Thanksgiving meal.  I was wrong.  The boys live in a smallish college town, and unless we wanted to drive an hour away to a big city, there wasn’t anyplace that was serving a traditional Thanksgiving meal.

Plan B –
At about 1 in the afternoon on Thanksgiving day, I made the decision to stop searching for a restaurant and start cooking instead.  I’ve never thrown a big meal together so fast in my life, but we raced to Walmart and bought ham slices and all the other ingredients I’d need to get some of their favorite dishes served.

Mind you, my boys are 19 and 23 and they have VERY limited kitchen tools in their apartment.
They don’t own any 13×9 pans, or a whisk, or a mixer, or any mixing bowls.   I wasn’t sure what they did and didn’t have, so I just bought a few disposable pans and 1 mixing bowl, and we hustled home to start cooking.

It was not a fancy meal, but we still enjoyed it and now we have leftovers to look forward to today!
We used an ice cream scoop as a serving spoon.

 We cooked ham on a pizza pan.  We didn’t have any napkins.  We plopped one candle in the middle of their counter (because they don’t have a kitchen table), and that was the extent of our decor.

 Since they don’t have a kitchen table or chairs, we pulled up stools to sit on, but we heard a “crack” sound, and my middle son’s stool collapsed on him, halfway through dinner (he wasn’t injured – he just laid on the floor laughing).

It just goes to show – it doesn’t have to be fancy to be fun.  After dinner, we used a video projector to watch a movie on their living room wall, then we walked to the college park to enjoy the beautiful lights.  The only things that would have made it better, would have been if my husband could have been with us, and if we had turkey.  There wasn’t time to cook a turkey, but we’ll have one for Christmas.  I think my husband enjoyed some peace and quiet and he did some online shopping while we were gone.

I hope your Thanksgiving was equally memorable and blessed!

Angie


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Comments

  1. Oh Angie, I so loved your Tksgiving story, how fun and memorable, as you say, specially with your dear sons, that was a blessing in itself!. You did a great job cooking sweetie. God bless you all! I love your new pic, you look so pretty.

    Enjoy your Tksgiving weekend.
    FABBY

  2. Way to go Angie … you saved the day ! I bet the kids enjoyed it more than going to a restaurant … and they have leftovers.
    Sounds like a lot of fun and special day they will remember.
    Blessings, my friend.
    Audrey Z .

  3. I think your Thanksgiving sounds wonderful! 🙂

  4. This will be such a great memory for you and your sons.

  5. That was a great story, Angie – and what a good looking bunch you have there!
    -b.

  6. Rosemary@villabarnes says

    Hey, it’s sounds like a fabulous Thanksgiving to me! As long as you’re with loved ones, and enjoying the day, that’s all that matters. Fun memories. The meal looks delish, btw.

  7. That actually sounds like a heck of a lot of fun. WTG super mom!

  8. This sounds like the perfect Thanksgiving…sometimes the unexpected ends up being remembered for years to come as the best Thanksgiving!

  9. ahhh you were making memories! You’ll all look back on this and remember whens will entertain you for years

  10. What fun! I have 4 sons and remember the fun we had when they were younger. Your dinner made me happy! Big smiles, Diane

  11. I think is sounds like the perfect meal and the perfect day. What a fun way to spend the day with your kids.

  12. Thanks just beautiful, Angie….the basics with your boys! Smiling like Diane 🙂

  13. What a wonderful story. I am sure that this is the Thanksgiving that will be remembered long after all the “perfect” ones have been forgotten.
    *Smiles*

  14. This is a great Thanksgiving story! Being together & being thankful is what it’s all about. Napkins & serving spoons are non-essential! 🙂

  15. What a fun memory! It sounds perfect to me.

  16. I love this post. I’m sure the experience will make for future Thanksgiving conversations and sweet memories forever. Now, you know what to get your son for Christmas! A few years ago, my two sons moved into an apartment together. They were often borrowing my kitchen items, and sometimes keeping them, so that year for Christmas, my daughter and I shopped for the perfect “manly” kitchen items – black and khaki and stainless. We bought everything from a microwave oven to dish towels and cooking utensils. I asked one son if he was ok with the bulk of his Christmas being kitchen stuff. I said, “We tried to make sure it was all masculine…” He replied, “Yeah. About the only thing that is NOT masculine is that we HAVE everything!” I love that little memory….

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