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December 27, 2004 Hi Everyone! Well, Christmas is OVER! And I’m a “little bummed”! All the gifts that we all worked so hard to shop for and wrap have been torn open to squeals of delight or the look of “ho hum, what am I going to do with THIS?” ha! ha! You can’t score 100% every time! Ha! The parties with friends are over for another year (why do we only do THAT once a year?), we’ve all eaten home made goodies baked by all the neighbors until, well I can only speak for myself, and I’ve personally gained 5 pounds and enjoyed every bite of it. But I still have cookies, cake and pie left and KNOW that at some point I’m going to have to “give it up”! I’m going to HAVE TO STOP eating all the “good stuff”! ha! ha! Today we are going to eat leftover turkey, probably on bread with gravy. Looking in the fridge I saw leftover baked beans, sweet potatoes (I didn’t even catch the marshmallows on fire this year that I always top them with), oh, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, one entire fruit pie and a pumpkin pie, I ALWAYS cook too much! Well, maybe EATING will make my spirits rise a little! Jay and Amanda, my son and daughter in law left last night, Tammy Sue and James and Jonathan, her children, have gone back to their lives and there is me and Roe and the dogs and the fish and a very messy Christmas house left to clean. I don’t WANT to put it all away. It still looks so pretty, all the colored lights, the manger scene all aglow in the yard, garland adorning everything that can possible be adorned! Ha! ha! I do it UP RIGHT! But the excitement is gone out of it and now they are “just decorations…………” I can’t be the only person feeling this way, am I? A little “let down”? Maybe I NEED to go eat a few more of those cookies with the frosting on them (the Santa clauses, the trees, the wreaths, the stars……..you know the ones. I could go put all the normal stuff back on the dining room table but that’s no fun. As long as it’s empty, I can still see the kids all sitting around it. I want that feeling to last a little while. I could finally sit down and look at the gifts I received that I quickly opened and put aside until later. Well, THIS IS LATER! I think I’ll do that! My children gave me wonderful things. They are very creative, for example my fish aquarium from Jay and Amanda with little aquatic frogs that I’ve wanted for so long, and some bright fish to swim with them, plus every year Jay sees that Mom has her Estee Lauder Private Collection. I have worn Estee since they were little and it just isn’t Mom without that smell of Estee. Tammy Sue got me the most beautiful Noah’s ark set. It is huge! But I love the challenge of finding just the right place to put it! My husband gave me some very special gifts, because he likes me! Ha! ha! Oh, kudos for Roe!! He did all the dirty dishes, pots & pans after we finished our meal! YEAH ROE!! That’s major!!! Ha! ha! Best gift a woman could get! Something really funny happened. I know that the neck is Roe’s favorite piece of the turkey so I always bake it with the turkey. I KNOW as Roe transfers the turkey from the baking pan to the large trays it’s being served on, his mouth waters with anticipation as he places it on the tray. This year Jamie and Tammy Sue decided to do the honors of placing the turkey on the dining room table. In the kitchen alone they went to pick up the tray and to their horror they saw that big neck bone laying there. Their conversation went something like this, Tammy Sue, “Oh my gosh, Mom forgot to remove the giblets. She is going to be so embarrassed!” Jay, “What IS that thing?” Tammy Sue, “It’s the neck I think.” Jay, “That really grosses me out! What in the world are we going to do with it?” Tammy Sue, “I don’t know! But I’ve got an idea, let’s throw it in the garbage and cover it up with something.” (continued on next
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December 27, 2004 Jay, “Well okay,
but YOU do it!” With that, one of them put it in a paper towel and
threw it in the garbage. They proudly carried in the now “perfect
turkey” and set it in its place in the middle of the table. Tammy
Sue was elected to serve as we passed out plates to her. I was first
and wanted white meat, Roe was second. Tammy Sue, “Roe do you want
white or dark meat?” Roe, “Where’s my neck? That’s my favorite piece
of the whole turkey”. Now I KNEW that neck had to be in the pan so I
assured him that I’d go get it for him. Jay, “Mom, I need to see you
in the kitchen”, so he followed me. I went to the pan exactly where
I left it and it wasn’t there. Then Jay said, “Mom I know where it
is. Me and Suz threw it in the garbage!” “You threw it in the
GARBAGE?” I said in horror. “Jay, that’s Roe’s favorite piece!” Jay,
“don’t worry Mom, I can fix this!” With that he walked over to the
garbage can, searched a minute, and came up with that neck. By that
time we were laughing so hard tears were rolling down our cheeks. He
said, “Mom, lets just wash it off under some HOT water, then we can
dip it back into the left over broth and no one will ever know it.”
So that is exactly what we did amid rolls of laughter. I will NEVER
forget the look on Tammy Sue’s face as we proudly walked back into
the dinning room carrying that turkey neck on a small plate and
handing it to Roe, who was none the wiser. I thought Tammy Sue was
going to have a stroke from trying not to laugh. She couldn’t even
look at us.
This is a good prayer for people of EVERY FAITH to pray every day:
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