Gobble! Gobble!

I don’t know what it is about this Thanksgiving that has me feeling nostalgic for a homespun Midwest experience. Maybe it’s the hormones or possibly the simplicity of those days. We weren’t exactly a Norman Rockwell painting or the Huxtables but Thanksgiving always promised a most excellent meal. While most Americans have mashed potatoes, turkey, pumpkin pie and some concoction of cranberries. Our soulful spin on the holiday included macaroni and cheese, collard greens, chitlins (Pig intestines. Big with my sister and mother), ham, sweet potato pie, potato salad, sage cornbread dressing (the best) and roast chicken.

That’s right! We have chicken instead of turkey. One thing to know about the Diva is my strong dislike of what must be the blandest meat in the world- turkey. My mother, catering to the baby of the family (that’s me), roasts a chicken. A very large unnatural looking beast but boy was it yummy. No one seems to mind the break in tradition. Or at least they’ve never said anything to me.

I try to make it home for Thanksgiving but with me eight months pregnant (That’s right. It’s the neverending pregnancy), I can’t get on an airplane. So, I’m having a South Florida Thanksgiving, which is sure to include rice and beans, yucca, plantains and possibly Puerto Rican tamales. Don’t get me wrong. I will certainly partake in the meal gleefully if not joyfully. I’m just a little homesick.

I spent the weekend glued to the Food Network watching the Thanksgiving programming. I watched annoying Bobby Flay flog a former Butterball Hotline operator/turkey expert during a turkey and dressing Throwdown. Too bad. I so enjoy it when he loses. I learned the difference between stuffing and dressing. Stuffing is cooked inside the bird while dressing is prepared outside the bird. Who would have known after all these years? I learned five different ways to cook turkey during the Turkey Challenge.

I guess what I’m trying to say is maybe that Ohio Thanksgiving experience that I thought was so unremarkable was downright incredible. I’ll miss my dad angling for the chicken neck, my sister highlighting her latest Martha Stewart-esque yam casserole, my mom cooking the bird all night long and the random relative/family friend that showed up unexpected on that big day.

I’m not so much sad as extremely satisfied and grateful (with a hint of melancholy) for these vivid memories.

What are your favorite Thanksgiving memories?