Not to mention that if you don't cook a turkey you can't make turkey sandwiches from the leftovers. I think I actually look forward to that more.

Enjoy your time off!

Poor NASA people. What is that at 3 o'clock?

Kitkat, the food may not be all that, but the view is spectacular, I hear.

Have a relaxing week, Elizabeth.

I got a free 12 pound turkey from Safeway. Spend $200 get free delivery and turkey. No room in the freezer for it. So until it thaws I have a pet. I call him Esteban. The only trick he knows is playing dead and enthalpy change.

We are getting a free-range turkey from Springfield Farms this year. Can't wait to see how it compares to our usual frozen grocery store bird.

NotableM You will never eat frozen again I have been doing fresh turkey for 25 years There is a huge difference. Enjoy!

People keep making me choke today (in a good way). Took a swig of water then saw KitKat's comment!

Hackensack wringing...rolls right of the tongue.

EL, I am with you on the way house smells. When I was a child, I loved waking up to the smell of my mother mixing the homemade stuffing and the turkey roasting in the oven. The scent goes great with watching the parade.

I may be going out this year, but, I think I will at least make a turkey breast and stuffing for the aforementioned smell and the sandwhiches mentioned by Mitch.

Sorry, I was too busy laughing, but I meant to wish you an enjoyable week with the family EL

Enjoy the time off.

I hope I don't burn down the house with the deep fryer this Thursday. Watch the news, see if you can see my house!

Also, kitkat, she identifies it as cranapple dessert.

Crapple, maybe?

Crapple does not jump.

One year, my mother was going to make a ham, but found out the week before the holiday that two Jews were coming (my mother collects people who have nowhere to go on holidays. This is possibly how she got me). Her butcher only had a 26 pound turkey left. She took it.

Mom had been wanting to roast a turkey using her sister's method, which involved stuffing the turkey, putting a half orange in each orifice, buttering the entire bird then putting it into a paper bag. Because of the weight of the bird, she got up at 3 am to do this.

I was sleeping in the living room, having gotten in about an hour before after a 14 hour drive. Mom didn't want to wake me. She didn't, even though she apparently started cussing pretty loudly because the buttered 26+ turkey just didn't want to go into the paper bag. She said there were thuds, too. I didn't ask what was thudding where.

She eventually got the turkey in the oven and went back to bed. The day ramped up, more cooking was done, there were Ethel Merman impersonations, the usual. When Mom guessed the turkey was done, we all gathered in her very small kitchen to see the unveiling of the turkey.

She opened the oven door and tore back the grease soaked paper bag.

There it was. The perfect Better Gardens and Homes cover turkey. Brown, moist, glistening. She nearly cried. Mom had always wanted to roast a perfect turkey.

We all stood there, oohhing and aaahhhing, complimenting Mom on her gorgeous turkey. After a minute or two, without it being touched or moved, it sighed and collapsed into bite sized bits of turkey.

Mom was briefly crushed, then her sense of the ridiculous kicked in. I mean, how can you not laugh at 26+ pounds of turkey garbage?

It was delicious, though. Moist, slightly orange flavoured turkey. We pieced on it until after midnight, singing, laughing and telling stories.

Great story Lissa. Ethel Merman impersonations? Your brother right?

Oops, T was me.

Before you leave us for a well-deserved week off, will there be a comment of the week winner? If so, I nominate Lissa. What a wonderful -- and beautifully told -- story.

'Look at this Richard. Just look at it'

It actually looks better than that Virgin Airways meal on the Mumbai to Heathrow route.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/4344890/Virgin-the-worlds-best-passenger-complaint-letter.html

Thanks, Trixie and MAG.

Trixie, the Ethel Merman impersonations were by one of my brother's lesbian friends.

We can't even live up to stereotypes right in my family.

Brava, Lissa. Just beautiful.

LiquorBoarding, that was ricockulous. Send more.

Families! I just found out that one of my cousins on her side of the family has a cousin "Heather" who used to be Herman, or something on that order. I'm not even mildly surprised.

Oh, too perfect: "Flaubert conducting"! And because Captcha hiccuped "and pshaw."

EL -- maybe a turkey breast would be a good compromise? That's the route my mother took after retiring to sunnier climes where she had no crowd to cook for.

Is Gailor still a vegetarian? I thought this fad would have passed by now. I know eventually she'll grow out of it. I just hope she does before the neighbors find out.

My mom has just been making the breast of the turkey for years after realizing no one in my family ate the dark meat (don't worry, I've learned). Other than that NOTHING CHANGES because my relatives' palates CANNOT HANDLE CHANGE. My current personal duty is Herman's Aunt Betty's Broccoli. I mean, Heather's.

Also, I know at least one vegetarian who only eats meat on Thanksgiving :)

EL, I take it you're not going to Fallingwater next week. Spring should be a lovely time to visit there.

The dark meat is the best part. But, turkey drumsticks are so faire.

I always eat the dark meat first. Love the drumsticks and thighs.

If you want to make gumbo with the leftover turkey, the dark meat is the best stuff.

Captcha: ing tabloids

Hi EL.....Have a great Thanksgiving with your family. That's what truly counts. (family, and being a good mom)

My paternal grandmother always liked "the part that goes over the fence last."

geeze, Lissa! You craft a story as well as jl.

Captcha: culled widow....hmmm

My grandmother used to call the tail "the part that goes over the fence last". Her son, my uncle, would call it the "pope's nose".

saville Ralph

LEC, the second usage is, I'm pretty sure, offensive these days. My incredibly anti-Roman Catholic (among other people) relatives gloried in it.

Elizabeth, have a lovely week off, and don't forget to get some "me" time.

You could get a small bird and freeze half (or more) of the cooked meat for some fast meals down the road. I have a 10.5-lb. to make my own leftovers, but 3 of us can't eat that much meat quickly, so I'll freeze it in 2- or 3-serving portions.

Hmm, captcha almost makes sense: local senz

Lissa, I second you for CotW. I laughed so loud that I woke my husband ... in the next room.

Real dark meat lovers grab the "oysters" snugged in the bird's back. That's why I carve. Mmm-mmm!

Captcha: anemone the. The WHAT?