Don't Eat The Stuffing!

[Old Moparz]

Thanksgiving was nice but it's over. The dinner was very good as well as dessert, & everyone eventually went home to end the day. For some of us though, not everyone we're used to seeing, or had hoped to see, were able to be there to share the day. Distance plays a big part in that, & sadly death does too. The good thing is, we hopefully have memories of past Thanksgiving dinners to look back on.

Fortunately I don't have any bad Thanksgiving stories because each year there was the chance to see family & friends I haven't seen in a long time. I never remember one of those years being horrible. Some may not have went quite as well as planned, but they never ended in arrests, explosions, fist fights or other disasters.....LOL

For me, it seems that of all the years there is one particular Thanksgiving story that makes me smile just thinking about it. It was at my Mom's house, she decided that dinner was going to be at her house that year & invited everyone. Her idea of everyone, was EVERYONE. The house got crowded fast with family, friends & even friends of friends. Chaos set in because there were less chairs & plates than people, & I think that caused some to believe there wouldn't be enough food, either. I wasn't worried because if the food ran out I knew the Greek diner was still open & probably safer.

My Mom was in the kitchen along with my Grandmother, my Aunts, an occasional visit from a guest trying to help, & of course our faithful dog, Tiger who helped clear the floor of whatever might be dropped. As dinner was almost ready the food was being juggled around from pots & pans & put into serving bowls. I knew enough to steer clear of the kitchen during this display of craziness, so I waited patiently & safely in another room. For some odd reason Tiger decided to stay out of the kitchen as well.

At some point my Mom removed the stuffing from the turkey & was putting it in a bowl but a large piece missed the bowl & fell into the gap between the stove & the counter. The gap was only about 1 inch, but large enough to hold stuffing......and dust.....and dog hair that Tiger once had attached to his body.

Since Tiger's hobby was to ransack the trash we had to put the trash can behind a closed door. This made things inconvenient when you wanted to throw stuff away, like a dropped piece of stuffing, but it was better than cleaning up trash that Tiger dragged into other rooms in search of a snack.

My Mom was in a rush to quiet the angry mob so she grabbed the dusty, dog hair covered stuffing & threw it in the sink instead of the trash can. If I recall, the stuffing had doubled in size. Instead of the original golf ball sized lump that landed on the floor inside the gap, it was now tennis ball sized due to dust, dog hair & possibly other foreign matter.

Now since Grandma was from a past generation & time period where people never threw food away, when she saw the stuffing in the sink she grabbed it & threw it back into the bowl of stuffing thinking it shouldn't be wasted. That past generation must not have had the best eyesight either, because I am sure she never saw the dust or the dog hair that attached itself to the stuffing.

The food made it's way to the table as people pushed & shoved to grab their share before it ran out. Seating was limited, so some stood hovering over their plates as they ate. I managed to get a plate filled & was ready to eat when I heard my Cousin Brian yell out, "Hey! What the hell is that?" as he pointed to the stuffing. The room quieted momentarily & the sparks from the utensils dimmed as everyone peered into the stuffing bowl.

My Mom grabbed the bowl to see & I heard a voice somewhere in the room shout out, "Don't anyone eat the stuffing!" Then another voice said, "It looks like hair.....and dirt.....and crumbs." Stuffing was my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner so I was a bit disappointed in what I heard. I decided it was best to skip the stuffing even though the portion I took was hairless.

It wasn't the last Thanksgiving dinner at my Mom's, but one I won't forget.....

Hope everyone had a great holiday.  

[charge69]

Great story !!  I can definitely see that happening !!

I, also, do not have any Thanksgiving drama to tell.  For many years, my wife and I had to eat 2 thanksgiving dinners as both our parents were here in the same place (Houston) and either would be offended if we did not eat thanksgiving dinner with them. Luckily, my Mother's dinner was at just about straight-up noon and my wife's Mother's dinner was at 3 to 4pm in the afternoon. Spent many years eating 2 thanksgiving dinners and was absolutely stuffed by the end of the day! Usually around 10 to 15 people at each place and always too much food!