The "Holiday Dinner at LDub's House"Story

It was an ordinary day. Carol and I are preparing for Thanksgiving Dinner. It will be a feast, I'm sure. Turkey, regular filing (that's what we call stuffing), oyster filing, gravy, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, creamed cauliflower, glazed carrots, roasted vegetables, applesauce, jellied cranberry sauce, special jello salad, potato rolls, and of course, Carol's famous pumpkin bread. Everyone has a big cold glass of water to help wash down the meal. Only thing missing is today is Dad who passed away two years ago. He loved to get together with his family and celebrate the holidays. In his honor I say the Thanksgiving Day prayer from his book of prayers. I inherited the book when he died and wouldn't miss the chance to use it for the big occasion. Today Mom is sitting at the head of the table. We have an 8 foot table I made from plywood, a 5 foot plastic table I bought at Costco, and a 3 foot card table at the end to make room for everyone. You have to "graduate" to the window end of the table and the only way you can do that is if someone dies or someone is sick for the meal. Newest members of the family sit at the card table. We take a family photo, offer our prayer and we start the meal. Everyone grabs a serving plate, helps themself, and passes it clockwise to the next person. Took years before people knew what that meant, but now we are getting the hang of it. We stuff ourselves like the pilgrims and Indians did years ago and a few of us clear the table for the next course. DESSERT! My favorite. Sometimes when I go to a buffet for a meal, I go to the dessert table first and hog all the desserts first, then maybe try some other food. My Mom would never let me do that when I was little, but she can't stop me now. Well, the desserts today are pumpkin pie, cherry pie, Texas cake and banana split dessert. Holy Cow! Why did I eat so much turkey? Now I can't sample all the desserts. After the final course, we help clear the table and I begin the chore of washing the dishes. Good silver can't go in the dishwasher do I wash it all by hand. Good china can go in, but we have to open the dishwasher as soon as the wash cycle is finished so the gold leafing on the dishes doesn't lose it's luster. And on, and on, and on. Now who do you think prepared all this? Yep, my wonderful wife. Days and days of planning, shopping, and cooking. Most of the meal was prepared before today and all we did was heat it in the oven, microwave and Bar-B-Q grill. She thinks she has maybe one more year left in her before we pass the meal onto the next generation. And the leftovers. I dish out "extras" to whomever brought containers and the rest is mine. We will have leftovers until we get so sick of them we just throw them out. Isn't this fun? But, wouldn't miss it!! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Top photo is from today's story, while the bottom is when our family was much smaller and my Dad sat at the head of the table.