Thanksgiving at the Office

Here it is, just a few days till Thanksgiving.  I should be up and busy making cornbread for the dressing.....tomorrow tomorrow!  It is a much less stressful holiday since I have retired, but I have many memories of previous Thanksgivings...the ones where I was on my feet from the time I got home to all hours of the night. 

For many years I made our office Thanksgiving lunch.  It all started the year after the men in my office did not get to the larger office lunch before all the food was gone.  Boy, oh boy, there was a lot of grumbling going on that year!  You don't want to be around hungry men expecting turkey and being denied.  We voted to be the renegade office the next year and pull away from the larger office lunch.  That next year and the next year and the next year and the next year..... and who knows exactly how many years, I fixed our meal.  Two turkeys, mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, canned jellied cranberries, green beans, rolls and butter, pecan and pumpkin pies.  That was pretty much what a catered lunch served so I stayed true to the menu.  Besides, do you know how long it took me to just make this Plain Jane menu, let alone try to make special cranberry relish, green bean casserole, etc?  I loved those guys, but not that much. 

I did love them enough to spend hours planning the food, at least three hours on my day off at the grocery store, three days of prep work, baking pies, baking cornbread, and cooking all night long and the next morning for the big lunch.  Do you know that now I cannot stand the smell of turkey cooking during the night?  I wanted to make the meal a special one for those guys (those were the years when I was the only female in the office).  I wanted them to have lots of turkey.  I didn't want to hear them grumble.  I did love the guys in my office.  They were all special friends.

Now that I am retired, I really miss those office lunches.  I miss trying new recipes.  I miss sharing recipes with my friends and discussing what we were going to bring and I especially miss Toni, my sounding board.  Yes, we finally got some girls in the office....I am so thankful for my girlfriends.

This is not even close to the post I started when I wrote the first paragraph.  Maybe tomorrow or next week.  I seem to be very sporadic.  I think I am home for a few weeks so I may bore you with more posts in the next few days. 

But just in case I get distracted with the smell of cornbread and turkey and not get back to you, I hope you all have a safe and fun Thanksgiving with those you love and that love you.

I love you.