We just had our ‘2nd’ Thanksgiving with the Turkey I bought before the neighbor’s invitation. This way the kids have turkey to take back to school. Bird turned out great, very juicy. We ate at 1 pm and DD2 went back to school at 2 pm. Other will go back to college on Sunday. Had a 14.5 lb turkey, so plenty when there are just 4 of us.
H and DD2 eat very fast. We had buffet style, and by the time I sat down and ate a few bites their plates were cleaned off! H grew up eating fast because with family of 6 with all sons, the ones that ate the fastest got the most food…
"H and DD2 eat very fast. We had buffet style, and by the time I sat down and ate a few bites their plates were cleaned off! "
This would not fly in my house. We often serve buffet style but you still wait until everyone has there food (okay, you might sneak a bite.) The cook is usually the last to serve themselves but I think everyone should wait until the cook is sitting down to dig in. But I guess every family is different…
When I worked ICU, we barely ever got more than five minutes to shovel some food into our face at lunch, before having to rush back out into the unit. I realized one day that I was doing that at home, just out of habit, and it wasy not a display of good manners. I had to talk myself down at meals for a good while after I left hospital nursing.
Agree with you @doschicos - since it was just the 3 of us (other DD1 went off with friends for the day) their manners got kicked to the curb by them. I guess H used up all his good behavior with family pictures Wed evening (he hates pictures but he blew it with our do it yourself so we went to a studio) and at our neighbor’s house Thursday. Grumbled when I asked him to put together the sweet potato casserole (which took him 10 minutes - he does a great cinnamon, brown sugar and chopped pecan layer on top).
H probably was feeling a bit sad with DD2 leaving this afternoon, but he also wasn’t helping with loading stuff into the car either…I just have to look at the big picture when he does these jerky things. He is like in his own world - he has a day off from work, he has hobbies on his brain (engineering of course).
His family had very poor dinner manners, including his dad clipping his fingernails after a meal (H eventually told him to not do that). His dad likes to think he rules the house and he is above following manners.
Sometimes I need to point out when it is just our nuclear family, it still means we need to have manners.
Another caveat - H is an engineer. Some engineers are not lacking in social skills, but some resist being social and fitting in.
I complimented H on the sweet potatoes. They did say my turkey was great, but no one said thank you for the dinner.
At least one year H took over for Thanksgiving, and as an engineer would, he wrote at the top of the planning page with what happens last and the time to begin/end preparation, and worked down to the Turkey, which was the first to get in the oven. I think that was when both sets of parents came when I was 6 months pregnant with our first - H can do well with cooking and baking, but he also wanted to ‘show off’ a bit. Both mothers wanted to butt into the kitchen.
The shopping for all the food items is almost as much time/energy (to me actually more) than preparing the meal. Lugging in all those heavy items and getting various things at various stores. I know that part took me over 4 hours. At home, I can multitask with more enjoyable distractions like CC
I agree, @SOSConcern. The grocery shopping is my most dreaded part of holiday cooking for me. Fortunately, I have one child who is super efficient at grocery shopping as he’s been my little helper since he was tiny. When we go together and split up the list, we can knock it out in no time. I actually look forward to it with my son in tow. He’s also developed some good knife and cooking skills so its fun having my own sous chef now.
