Packing Your Boxes, Then Stuffing Your Turkey

[BrianaHartzell]

I love hosting. Whether it is dinner, drinks, a book club, bible study, you name it, I would love to cook and have you over! This is especially true for holidays.

I remember my excitement hosting my first Thanksgiving meal. I planned out the menu days in advance and did all the prep work the day before. Everything was going nicely until I began to smell something burning...I realized I did not take my oven off of the pre-heat setting (which means the oven is getting as hot as it can as fast as it can) and my lovely sweet potato casserole topped with brown sugar and pecans is ON FIRE. Smoke begins to billow from the oven and is shortly accompanied by the lovely sound of the fire alarm. I remove the casserole and run outside with it (as to not add any more smoke to the house and so that the piercing sound of the darn alarm would stop). My entire family (yes in-laws too) were there, as well as a few friends, and they are all staring expectantly at me pondering, "will she cry, did she screw up her first Thanksgiving, can we laugh"? Luckily, I had an extra casserole in the fridge so the crisis was averted and I had a good chuckle about it.

I have not hosted since, not because anyone is afraid the house might go up inflames, but because we have moved into a new place the week of thanksgiving two years in a row. So I have had to improvise and have created some non traditional Thanksgivings! If you find yourself far away from home with your belongings all packed up around Thanksgiving, you can:

• Ask friends if they would like to do a pot-luck style Thanksgiving dinner.
• Check out local restaurant and hotel specials, some places have great deals for multiple course meals.
• Renting a vacation home nearby will provide you with a fully stocked kitchen. (we have used this as a mini vacation- in driving distance, because Thanksgiving is one of the most expensive times of year to fly)
• Volunteer at a local food bank or homeless shelter and help serve a Thanksgiving dinner to others.

How do you handle the holidays when all of your belongings are in boxes?

236639 - 1116

[ladydimples]

I remember my first dinner party well. I had 30+ guest show up to a 2 bedroom apartment. I only invite 6 people, but they invited others. I was so frantic that I began cooking what ever I could find. Needless to say, most of my guest ending up eating a sandwich. LOL My first Christmas dinner with my in-laws was no better. I cooked a wonderful meal but my step son, being 3 at the time, decided he would help and added salt, and I mean lots of salt to the greens. I did not know he did this until we sat down to eat and every was removing the greens from their mouths. I was horrified, how did that happen? My husband, doing what most men do, told me it was fine, but we all know what MIL was thinking....she gave me a look that to this day still give me chills. I love the fact that you have another casserole on hand, that really saved the day. I will use that one. I have often forget to turn down the oven after cooking something that required more heat. Nice save!