Food: I Know What's Better than Thanksgiving Dinner!

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I Know What's Better than Thanksgiving Dinner!
Tuesday, September 20, 2005

I do not know when it started, or why it continued but one of my family traditions involving the holidays is cooking enough food for six armies. About a decade ago, my mom realized that there was too much food to serve family style by passing the dishes around, so she started a buffet style Thanksgiving (and Christmas!) dinner.

My parents both spend a lot of time cooking for the holiday meals and then each of their five children arrive for the meal bearing covered dishes hot and cold as well. The family has also grown over the years so currently there will be between 30 and 45 people standing in the buffet line and sitting around the long table at most holiday meals.

The menu is extensive and includes things such as turkey for Thanksgiving and ham for Christmas; a few kinds of potatoes; my mom's homemade stuffing that is simply guaranteed the best on the planet; numerous side dishes and salads hot and cold; and anything else that my parents or any of my siblings decided to contribute to the meal. And desserts! The desserts take a separate serving table of their own!

So what is the answer to the title of this article? What is better to me than Thanksgiving dinner? The answer is "the leftovers!" I don't know how the tradition of our "leftover dishes" started either, but I have a sneaky suspicion that I was involved somehow. One year someone (uh, again, I think I'm repressing the memory that it was me!) showed up at Thanksgiving dinner with a bag full of plastic containers that had been saved throughout the year.

It turned into a family joke and now all my siblings do it. We know that there is always a ton of food left over and we know that mom and dad can't possibly save up enough "leftover dishes" for all of us. When we buy a tub of butter or get something from a deli in a plastic container, into the "leftover dish bag" it goes.

When it is time to leave my parents' home for our respective homes, my sibs and I once again gather around the buffet table and fill up our saved dishes with the bountiful booty of Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. I have enjoyed the leftovers the following day more than the actual meal for many years now. There's just something about all those wonderful foods that have been allowed to sit for more than 24 hours.

I realize that many people scramble after Thanksgiving to find new recipes and innovative ways to use leftover turkey but I just wrap up enough for my next day's meals. With so many people dividing up the surplus turkey, my parents never have a problem with needing to use up too much turkey either.

As the family grows, so does the number of dishes that are served. We all get teased every year by one of my parents saying "leftover dishes?! What makes you think there will be leftovers?!" But we all know that extra food is specifically being prepared so that we can keep up with our tradition.

10:13 AM

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