Thanksgiving Dinner for Two-and-a-Quarter People

This year I cooked Thanksgiving Dinner for the least number of people ever: two-and-a-quarter.  It still took all day.

I made potatoes (my special baked ones with sour cream and cream cheese that I only make a couple times a year so as not to weigh 300 pounds), stuffing (packaged, but the kind I have to add diced stuff to, so kind-of home-made, right?), a few vegetables (amazingly, all fresh), fluffy white rolls (frozen), and the cranberry sauce that keeps the shape of the can (my husband insists - he doesn't want anything resembling an actual cranberry).  And I reheated a whole deep-fried turkey that I had waited in line almost three hours to buy, which is about as much time as I'd have to spend cleaning and figuring out my own turkey.  For dessert, I made a yummy apple pie from scratch, crust and everything, which I think makes up completely for the packaged, frozen, and purchased stuff (that's my all-in-one peeler/corer/slicer in the picture, best $17 I ever spent).

So, all that food, all that time in the kitchen, all that mess.  Who ate it?  Four people sat down at the table: me, my husband, our eight-year-old son Jake, and our five-year-old daughter Fiona.  My husband was the only one who ate some of everything.  I came close, but being a vegetarian, I couldn't help with the turkey.  However, turkey was all my daughter ate, so between the two of us, we ate like one whole person.  Actually, she asked for a slice of apple pie, but declared that she didn't like the "inside part," ate a few bites of crust, and ran.

And Jake?  My little carboholic?  He ate rolls.  We hardly ever have rolls, so he took advantage and filled up.  No pie for him; too close to being actual fruit.

None of this was a surprise in the least.  So why did I do it?  I love cooking big holiday dinners.  I have no idea why.  It takes a long time, costs a lot of money, takes hours to clean up from, and makes my pants tighter.  But still, I look forward to each and every one. 

This is an original post to NYC Moms Blog. Amy also edits the NYC section of Famplosion.com, blogs about parenting in Brooklyn while keeping herself sane and comfortable at SelfishMom.com, and attempts to keep one step ahead of the stalkers and paparazzi at FilmingInBrooklyn.com and Examiner.com.