Thanksgiving Reflection 2022
I woke up to the smell of stuffing being made. I don’t know if you say ‘dressing’ or ‘stuffing’. It’s all delicious to me. My wife started preparing ‘the bird’ before I got up. After I got up, I bumbled around offering help. She just wants me out of the way. I’ll explain my real jobs in a minute.
Around 11:30 I decided to take the chill off, so I wandered down to my rambling office to start a fire in our Vermont Casting stove. I reclined in the Lazy Boy and read portions of the “Essays of E.B. White,” while I tended the fire. Thankfully fires don’t need much tending. Burning wood smells like home.
I call my office rambling because it’s four-times larger than it needs to be. Beyond typical office stuff, it has a stove and a Lazy Boy. I set up office in what used to be our living room. We built a new living room. We needed an addition when the kids were little, but we couldn’t afford it until they left home. My wife enjoys the new kitchen. I enjoy the food she cooks in it.
It’s 12:30 and the smell of turkey has replaced the smell of stuffing. Both smells feel peaceful. The kids and grandkids will arrive soon and perfectly disturb the peace. The popper will pop on the bird. Hours of labor will be gobbled down in no time at all.
The wife of my youth just walked in wide-eyed and gave me two thumbs up. She didn’t speak a word. Just thumbs up. I knew the popper popped. The bird is done. I grabbed the potholders and set him on the counter. Job-one done. I sampled the crusty stuffing. It smells like Thanksgiving. Now it tastes like Thanksgiving.
It means so much because we’ve done it so often. Around 2:30 job-two will be done when I take out the garbage.
We had bone turkey for our first Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving Dan
It is indeed those little things that make this time of year most special. Ordered chaos, chaotic order, noise, laughter and the occasional tear in memories. Thanks for sharing. And happy Thanksgiving, Dan & Fam!
All the satisfaction of a lovely holiday celebration! I am grateful for you and your words of wisdom that you so generously share with us. Thank YOU!!
Hi Dan, all the best of Thanksgiving to you and your family.
We Canadians get to do this in October!!
Happy thanksgiving from Brazil, Dan
I enjoyed reading this post – something similar happens at my house 🙂
Love this post. I’m a little late in reading it, but Happy Thanksgiving none the less.
Happy belated Thanksgiving, Dan. It’s wonderful how smells and tastes trigger memories this time of year. For me, it’s a special recipe my mom has for dinner rolls that was passed down from previous generations. The dough has to rise before she bakes them. When I woke up a kid, I could smell the yeast throughout the house. That got combined with the turkey roasting later on in the morning.