Don, I could live with that dinner! As it worked out, though, we did our usual two Thanksgivings. Back a few years when we were newly divorced I asked the next door neighbor if we could blend into her crowd that year. We typically went over there every couple of years, but that year and every one since we've gone to her house. The catch? Well, her son is a chef, and he cooks for Jerry Jones's family and friends for the home Cowboy's game on Thanksgiving, so he has a horrifically long day. My friend delays her Thanksgiving until the next day, when it is the usual pot luck when you have so many folks coming from so many places. This year there were about 27 of us.

A couple of years ago I moved into this house and enough time had passed since the divorce that we decided we could manage the Thanksgiving dinner as a group, so my ex comes over on the Thursday Thanksgiving and we have the meal (this generates the leftovers we like--the kids adore hot turkey sandwiches).

We've had our share of small disasters. The dry soy protein powder can got confused with (and used instead of) the dry soy milk this year, and the potatoes tasted a bit weird, but the power of pumpkin pie spices is such that it wasn't noticable in the custard and it DID eventually set up. Last year I thought I'd obliterate the can-shape that typically goes with cranberry sauce, resulting in the ex smearing a big dollop on a roll, thinking it was jam. We all looked at him in amazement as he did this, wondering what in hell he was doing, and our expressions registered just before he stuck it in his mouth.

One of our favorite holiday movies is the Jean Shepherd story in the movie A Christmas Story. The part where the Bumpus's dogs run through the kitchen and steal the turkey is priceless (along with the subsequent trip to the Chinese restaurant for roast duck).

SRS