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Throw Away Thanksgiving - An Adjustment in Thinking As we age our ways of doing things and our preferences for things to be a certain way become more and more defined. I have often wondered if this contributes to some of the negative characteristics assigned to old folks. Things change and staying flexible and learning and doing new things in new ways keeps us on our toes and our minds sharp. My challenge for this year in more ways than one is to use as many disposable things for Thanksgiving dinner as possible – not the food, but what it is cooked and served in. This goes against my ideals in so many ways but sometimes we rein our crap in to make others happy as long as no one is harmed. In my case it is to humor my stepmother. When I did my ’s 40th there was little kitchen clean up. Yes, most was disposable this fit the kind of party and the event was semi catered. I ordered the food. It came prepared and ready to serve. I purchased several plastic serving spoons because we never seem to have enough. Yes, we had paper plates, cups etc. but that was because we used funny and appropriate theme stuff for someone turning 40. It was an outdoor, pool party so very casual when it came to presenting and serving the food. My stepmother was impressed and decided we will do Thanksgiving this way. I have problems with this both in terms of liking to have real plates, serving dishes etc. for holidays and wasting, both in terms of money and creating unnecessary trash with disposables (fortunately most is recyclable). That aside this is still a challenge but I am giving it my best creative efforts. I came up with a couple of interesting solutions, like creating disposable liners for my crock pots out of one time only aluminum baking / roasting pans that can also function as serving dish dishes. The part I won’t share with stepmother is that I already did all of the prep work for my portion of the dinner at home and the mixing bowls, stirring utensils, cheese grater and other stuff is sitting in my dishwasher. I also can't promise I will not rescue some of the plastic serving dishes and bowls, sneak them home, wash them and reuse them. Even the dishwasher is a challenge. So many years of having to conserve water and energy and working in small spaces with limited utensils created habits that die hard. I still since and reuse the same mixing bowl for all of the things I am preparing even though as Chuck keeps reminding me the dishwasher uses the same amount of energy with a full or partial load and the one I use is fairly new and both energy and water efficient. All this reminds me of many more things to be thankful for. I have a large family to share the holiday with and almost everyone will go the extra mile to humor each other’s quirks. I have no problem affording the extra food. I can afford the disposables. I am healthy and can get out to shop and cook. We have a great trash recycling program so all I need to do is make sure the disposables are sorted and in the proper bins. I have a kitchen to work in. I have a new efficient dishwasher and so much more. Indeed, lots to be thankful for. Spiritwoman ^i^ |
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After reading all this Spirit, I can only say one thing. I am so pleased Ann and I are going out to eat at Ruby Tuesday's today. We won't have to make those kind of decisions you have to make, will we? Have a nice day!  Alfie...
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Yes, you are staying flexible AND trying to keep peace with your family and true to your beliefs! Well done!
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11/28/2014 9:26 am |
After reading all this Spirit, I can only say one thing. I am so pleased Ann and I are going out to eat at Ruby Tuesday's today. We won't have to make those kind of decisions you have to make, will we? Have a nice day! /:> Alfie... Spiritwoman ^i^
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11/28/2014 9:28 am |
Betty and I went out to eat at a local Native American casino where they had a wonderful buffet. That allowed us to each individually choose the food that we most enjoy. It saved all of the gymnastics of procuring, preparing and cleaning up. A much preferable experience to what had been a lifetime of doing things in another way. Spiritwoman ^i^
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11/28/2014 9:30 am |
Yes, you are staying flexible AND trying to keep peace with your family and true to your beliefs! Well done! Spiritwoman ^i^
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11/28/2014 9:34 am |
Much as I like the standard turkey with the family recipe for dressing I think I'd go for the Chicken Cordon Bleu. It's been a long time since I had some. The paper plates and plastic forks worked out well but I have to confess I took all of the heavy plastic serving dishes home to be cleaned and reused. My sis and I snuk them out in a trash bag, kind of like a refeerse Santa. Spiritwoman ^i^
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11/28/2014 9:36 am |
Much as I like the standard turkey with the family recipe for dressing I think I'd go for the Chicken Cordon Bleu. It's been a long time since I had some. The paper plates and plastic forks worked out well but I have to confess I took all of the heavy plastic serving dishes home to be cleaned and reused. My sis and I snuk them out in a trash bag, kind of like a reverse Santa. They are the kind of things I use when bringing a dish to someone's else house. That way I don't have to worry about getting it back. Spiritwoman ^i^
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11/28/2014 9:38 am |
Some habits die hard. I can easily manage the lack of "pretty" but just can't get over the waste not want not upbringing. Spiritwoman ^i^
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11/28/2014 3:07 pm |
I'd go with the baked fish over turkey for me but I think I might have to pry a drumstick out of my daughter's cold dead hand. Spiritwoman ^i^
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