An Accidental Thanksgiving

I usually celebrate Thanksgiving with my kids, one of my sisters, her husband and young son, and my boyfriend and one of his daughters (I sure wish they would think up a new word for a boy/girlfriend for someone my age!).

Click here to read a humorous story of one particular Thanksgiving a few years back.

This year both of my daughters work on Thanksgiving. One works from morning until evening, the other works from afternoon until midnight. My son's presence is a bit of a wildcard, and my boyfriend and his daughter are going to his cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains. His daughter recently started a new job and doesn't get any vacation for a year, so these four days are the only time she'll be able to go anywhere. And I think the fact that she wants to spend it with her father is very sweet!

I didn't really want to prepare a gigantic feast for just three people (my sister's son doesn't eat enough to qualify as cooking for four!). I was a little worried my sister might get her feelings hurt, but I called her and told her I was just going to skip Thanksgiving this year. She understood. I'm sure if her husband and son weren't going to be around for Thanksgiving, she'd want to skip it, too. I already had a turkey, so I figured I would cook it one day while I'm off and freeze the meat for quick dinners in the future.

So, instead of a traditional Thanksgiving meal, I decided to enact Plan B ... have the kids over Wednesday evening, and just make a chicken/dressing thing in the crockpot. And then I got to thinking ...

Enter Plan C ... I already had the turkey and would have to cook it soon, so I decided to just take Wednesday off and cook the turkey and have a "mini" Thanksgiving a day early. What I intended to be an easy crockpot dinner with my kids quickly turned into a full-scale, cook all day, Thanksgiving feast. The only thing missing (food-wise) was cranberry relish. And, since I always cook like I'm feeding a regiment of troops, I had enough leftovers to send a full Thanksgiving dinner to Blue Ridge with my boyfriend and his daughter to enjoy together on Thursday!

I honestly didn't intend to make a complete Thanksgiving dinner, but I'm glad I did. With my kids all now adults, there is no telling how many more Thanksgiving dinners there will be when we can all be together. We all live in the same town right now, but who knows if that will always be the case.  I don't know what the future holds, but I'm glad my present included an accidental Thanksgiving with all my kids ... and several of their friends!