Thanksgiving At Felicia's

Rembember when you were small and your family loaded into their car (or whatever) and went to Grandma’s house for Thanksgiving? Maybe, you are the grandma and it’s your family that’s coming to your house. Maybe, you’re like me and Grandma and Mama are both deceased, and it’s either your responsibility or perhaps the responsibility of your sibling to host the family gathering.

Several years ago, my sister volunteered her home for Thanksgiving with the understanding Barbara and I would host everyone for Christmas. Our arrangement worked well enough until my niece got married, and she wanted us to come to her house. Of course she still wanted my sister to do the bulk of the cooking, but, this way, she could spend Thanksgiving with her family as well as several members of her husband’s family. The new arrangement started with our 2008 Thanksgiving and worked so well we allowed Felicia to host our respective families for Thanksgiving 2009.

We only had thirteen people for the Thanksgiving meal this year, due to the rotation system that prevents certain family members being present every year, as they live too far away to attend two different family gatherings in the same day. We had enough food to feed thirteen more people though only eight of our regulars were unaccounted for.

Felicia’s husband, Cullen Pollard, led us in the saying of grace before our meal and mentioned our collective thankfulness for the blessings of our nation and our families.

My, oh my, at the food we had! Sara Sue prepared a spiral sliced baked ham, and roasted a turkey breast, while Felicia heated the smoked turkey breast. Additionally we had ~ a grape salad, idiot's delight frozen salad, cornbread dressing, hash brown casserole, chicken pot pie, sweet potato casserole, sausage balls, cranberry sauce, carrot soufflé, corn & green bean casserole, baked ham, gravy, mashed potatoes and Barbara Anne’s homemade rolls. Desserts were plentiful as well ~ Chocolate layer cake, sweet potato pie (my favorite), pumpkin pie, pumpkin roll, and pecan pie, all made by Sister Sue.

Except for Sara’s cornbread dressing snafu, it may have been the grandest of our Thanksgiving feasts. The greenish colored dressing would perhaps have been more appetizing had we been celebrating Christmas, but it was edible. Sara blames what she described as a late-night-purchased, off-brand, poultry seasoning for the color. Though she said it looked normal before she went to bed Wednesday night, it developed an odd hue by daylight.

In addition to our family we were privileged to share our bounty with two family friends, Sam Lester of Pontotoc and Natalie Carpenter of Oxford. Sam is a friend of my son, Jason, and Natalie, whose Ripley, TN family lives too far from Oxford for a one-day trip, is a friend of Felicia’s. These two were made to feel at home with us, and we’d love to have either or both of them back again.