Thanksgiving is Coming and (after Much Discussion) This is What We Decided to Do

On November 6th I wrote an article about asking my two adult daughters and their cousin to please take over the cooking and cleaning up of the Thanksgiving meal. It is now November 20th, Thanksgiving is less than a week away, nobody has raised their hand and volunteered to help, so, a new decision has been made.

My oldest daughter will be taking care of a two year old sweetie whose mom is having emergency surgery on Thanksgiving eve (also known as the Wednesday before Thanksgiving). My daughters significant other may be working and we don't know if his children will be spending Thanksgiving with their mom or with their dad. My two granddaughters already know they will be with grandma and grandpa.

My youngest daughter is working that day. She will be waitressing at one of her jobs and really doesn't want to go a day without working. She has mucho bills to pay and needs every dollar and dime she can earn. I was considering just going out to the cafe where she works and have our meal there, but, there are four people in our families who don't like to be among crowds. I'm the first one who doesn't like crowds, my son, my youngest granddaughter and the little 2 year old---who will scream the loudest of anyone and just make it worth our while to stay home.

My son has voted to just chuck the whole thing. Holidays have never been a special time anyway. Every year I try to make them seem special, but deep down, I don't really care. I was raised in a household where holidays were just another working day or potential working day. My great-grandfather, my grandfather, my dad, my father-in-law and my husband all worked in the railroad industry. All of them had different jobs, but all of them were required to work no matter what day it was. So, every generation from my great grandmothers era haven't been able to "plan" on a certain day. There was no such thing as having a holiday plan.

My husband, Dan, wants the traditional meal. We both have tremendous health problems--his main one being diabetes. We all know what overeating does to diabetics and, I really want Dan around as long as he can be. If having a huge meal means it is going to affect his health---I vote no.

Six years ago I had a gastric bypass---so huge meals are not even in my vocabulary. I use a dessert size plate as my dinner plate. That's no joke. I may have a tablespoon of four different items and that's about all I can handle. Having had small amounts of food over the past six years has taught me that the human body really doesn't need as much food as we put into it.

Therefore, the decision has been made to have a couple casseroles my mom has on hand. We will bake them and accompany them with fresh vegetables, fresh fruits and quick breads or muffins. Diabetic and gastric bypass friendly as well as friendly on the checkbook.