Thanksgiving “Butter Side Up”
On Barbara Sher’s Bulletin Board we started to share our most “special” Thanksgiving tales, here’s mine.
I was in the emergency room last Thanksgiving morning at 3:00 AM. My father flew in later that same day. I hardly remember greeting him because the pain killers had begun to kick in for a pretty serious tooth problem and I had finally, finally, after almost 2 days, fallen SOUND asleep. My sweet husband and father made dinner and at 11:00PM we gave thanks. I think. I was pretty loopy, but very grateful to modern medicine and an understanding family.
I’m going to ask my friend Beth if she would repost her two stories she wrote on the BB… What’s your your best Thanksgiving tale?
Beth is offering a very cool, FREE, keepsake project pdf to do with kids over Thanksgiving http://www.bethlamie.com. It’s a great way to help preserve family memories, go check it out!!!!
About the Author: 
Beth LaMie | Nov 25, 2008 | Reply
Turkey Blooper #1
Supposedly, one year Grandma made an especially beautiful roasted turkey, so she decided to carve it at the dinner table. As she carried it out to the dining room with everyone assembled in anticipation, it slid off the platter and bounced on the floor.
There was a simultaneous “Gasp!” as everyone thought the dinner was ruined.
But Grandma very calmly said, “Don’t worry, I’ll just go get the SECOND turkey.”
So now the question is, was there really another turkey, which is actually quite possible? Or more likely, did she just put the turkey back onto another platter and dust it off a bit?
And was everyone looking forward to the turkey so much that it didn’t really matter either way?
Beth LaMie | Nov 25, 2008 | Reply
Turkey Blooper #2
The mother of a friend of mine got a fancy new stove right before Thanksgiving one year. She was all excited about using the Delayed Start cycle to automatically start the turkey cooking early in the morning. So she prepared the turkey the night before, put it into the oven & set the timer.
Several hours later, the smoke alarm went off and everyone grabbed a coat & ran outside. The kitchen was filled with smoke, but they didn’t see any flames, so someone very carefully went back inside to assess the problem.
It turns out, she had set the stove to Self-Clean instead of Delayed Start. Even though they discovered what caused the smoke, the oven was now so hot, they couldn’t open the door or stop the Self-Clean cycle. By the time they figured out how to trip the circuit breaker on the electric panel, the turkey was burned to a cinder.
Needless to say, with all the smoke and the burnt smell, they took the rest of the food to someone else’s home for dinner.
Oh, yeah. They stopped to pick up a few pizzas on the way, but there was no turkey for them that year.
Beth
GirlPie | Nov 26, 2008 | Reply
Great title, in that, I’m guessing, you’re lucky that if you’ve got to be in the ER, Thanksgiving is the emptiest day to do it, eh? (Like, if you have to drop your bread, better it fall butter side up than down, eh?)
[Just curious: Was there a word limit to the stories you were sharing on the Sher BB?]
Rachel | Nov 26, 2008 | Reply
The Sher BB has no word limits. I’ve just used so many words today I guess I was running low when I wrote this post…lol.
It was SUCH a butter side up story. Even with the icky situation of having a major tooth situation. Which, a matter of fact, just ended this past Tuesday with my teeth cleaning apointment. After two root channels, one new bride, and then later 4 wisdom teeth yanked out, I got what I had long waited for. “We’re all done here Rachel, see you in 6 months!” I’m on hugging bases with my dentist and her staff. Of course I likely have helped pay for a new addition to her house but whatever.
I had to face both a problem and a fear, and right from the start it was meaningful. The ER doc was really nice, helpful and generous. The nurse who admitted me was so so good to me, never letting me run out of ice water, the only thing that helped ease the pain a little.
My husband was the BEST. Joking right when I needed to laugh at myself, keeping my father entertained while I lay in my own droll drugged up and out with pain killers. (I had never taken pain meds. before)
The guys took over kitchen duty and figuring things out on the fly.
There’s so much more but the fact is, what was a hard thing to face, something that was actually very humbling, turned out to be a positive. It’s a lot how you frame things - what you’re looking for.
GirlPie | Nov 26, 2008 | Reply
Excellent point — framing IS everything, since it builds our context.