Thanksgiving Turkey????

Today a friend of mine invited me over to his house for thanksgiving dinner.  I asked if there was going to be mustard on the sandwiches, because as everyone should know by now I can not eat mustard for religious reasons.  I was rather surprised to hear that my friend and his wife had forgone the traditional feast of sandwiches for an actual turkey and dressing, which I assume will top a salad of some sort.

This forced me to ask why they would go to so much trouble preparing a meal for a casual drinking holiday.  At that point he seemed rather confused, he was not the only one.  We eventually agreed to meet at a local drinking establishment after he finished the fancy meal with his wife. 

After our conversation I spent a few moments reminiscing on Thanksgiving days past.  I remember how simple things were in my child hood when my extended family would gather at our home with a feast of turkey sandwiches (we had ham one year but the aftermath left several in jail and a local truck driver paralyzed).  I remembered how great uncle Travis would offer me his flask of aged brandy and take off his shirt and ask me to do the same, the wrestling that ensued would draw in the rest of the family and occasionally a passing traveler of the night.  On the morrow we would all go our separate ways and promise to meet up again at Christmas, then everyone would leave one-by-one with great fan fair, promising to meet again at Christmas.  And as soon as they were all gone we would pull out a legal pad and some pens and write out our excuses as to why, due to weather or tragedy, we could not attend the Christmas festivities.

How I miss the days of my youth!