What's on your Thanksgiving menu this year?

[JSngry]

Pig foot stew & candied goat tails.

[Tim McG]

I look forward to this all year. Mom will make her usual juicy and delicious turkey which she knows how to bake without drying it out, along with her special stuffing which is my favorite part, ham, sweet cinnamon carrots, broccoli cheese casserole, garlic mashed potatoes and gravy, deviled eggs, and an assortment of pies. In addition my two sisters-in-law and my aunts will be bringing appetizers and other goodies. My favorite holiday.

Yum.

What time should I be there?

[Tom Storer]

That's right - it's dressing.

A lexicographer friend of mine notes that "stuffing" is Northern and "dressing" is Southern. My question for you is: does this include the verb? Would you say, "I have dressed the turkey?"

[Michael Weiss]

Rabbit.

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

[papsrus]

Maybe I'll have a turkey sandwich at work that day. With my finances, I couldn't turn down double time and a half...

I'm right there with you. Will be heading into work later. I think there will be a little spread there of turkey and stuffing, green beans and such. Should be dozing off at the keyboard around 10:30. -_-

[JSngry]

Would you say, "I have dressed the turkey?"

Not before 11 PM and a fifth of Jack.

[JSngry]

That's right - it's dressing.

A lexicographer friend of mine notes that "stuffing" is Northern and "dressing" is Southern. My question for you is: does this include the verb? Would you say, "I have dressed the turkey?"

Why? The purpose of dressing is to not stuff the turkey.

You "dress" the meal itself, the "turkey dinner". At least we do. Do you then "stuff" the dinner? Or is that too personal a question?

If that presents a lexicographical quandary, all I can say is that, hey, lexicographers exist to interpret, not to invent.

[papsrus]

That's right - it's dressing.

A lexicographer friend of mine notes that "stuffing" is Northern and "dressing" is Southern. My question for you is: does this include the verb? Would you say, "I have dressed the turkey?"

Why? The purpose of dressing is to not stuff the turkey.

You "dress" the meal itself, the "turkey dinner". At least we do. Do you then "stuff" the dinner? Or is that too personal a question?

If that presents a lexicographical quandary, all I can say is that, hey, lexicographers exist to interpret, not to invent.

Just pass the freakin' gravy, will ya?

[Chuck Nessa]

Well, Ann fixed a 20 lb turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, scalloped corn, cranberry sauce, gravy, rolls and asti spumante. We ate at 3 pm and have a pumpkin pie lurking about. We may not eat again until Saturday.

It is just the two of us this year so we will have lots of leftovers. Tomorrow Ann will make noodles for her killer turkey soup. Bringing that out of the freezer in Feb is a treat. Otherwise, we eats lots of bird and side dishes for a week.

[JSngry]

That's right - it's dressing.

A lexicographer friend of mine notes that "stuffing" is Northern and "dressing" is Southern. My question for you is: does this include the verb? Would you say, "I have dressed the turkey?"

Why? The purpose of dressing is to not stuff the turkey.

You "dress" the meal itself, the "turkey dinner". At least we do. Do you then "stuff" the dinner? Or is that too personal a question?

If that presents a lexicographical quandary, all I can say is that, hey, lexicographers exist to interpret, not to invent.

Just pass the freakin' gravy, will ya?

You think there's any left? HA!

I commit dressing sacrilege (or so it is accused) every year by topping it with gravy & Tabasco. KILLER combination!

[JSngry]

It is just the two of us this year so we will have lots of leftovers. Tomorrow Ann will make noodles for her killer turkey soup. Bringing that out of the freezer in Feb is a treat. Otherwise, we eats lots of bird and side dishes for a week.

Similarly, my mom always froze the Christmas turkey corpse for making turkey gumbo in New Years' Day. Not exactly an item that New Orleans is famous for, but mmm mmmm GOOD!

She had a stroke back in late July, is still recuperating (she goes home in a week or two, hopefully) & will probably never cook again. It's a loss for all of us in a lot of ways, but we had Thanksgiving today at the Luby's Cafeteria (home of the LuAnn Platter, and yes, that is for what the character of King Of The Hill was named) in Longview. The food was actually pretty damn good, not homemade, but still far above and beyond "typical cafeteria fare" (if you're from East Texas - and who here isn't - you'll know what I mean), and Mom ate more there today than she ever did when she made it all herself. She put it away! In spite of all the other realities at play, it did me good to see her be able to enjoy somebody else's Thanksgiving work for the first time since...I don't know when... I'll be 54 in a few weeks & I don't know that I've ever seen her not fix Thanksgiving dinner.

If/when she gets up to making the trip into the DFW area, and if/when my sister & brother-in-law can get into making the drive & bringing her along, LTB is more than ready, willing, and able to step up and hit the home runs. Until then, all of you who have the ongoing holiday dinner traditions firmly ensconced, treasure them, because like everything else in life, they won't last forever.

[papsrus]

It is just the two of us this year so we will have lots of leftovers. Tomorrow Ann will make noodles for her killer turkey soup. Bringing that out of the freezer in Feb is a treat. Otherwise, we eats lots of bird and side dishes for a week.

Similarly, my mom always froze the Christmas turkey corpse for making turkey gumbo in New Years' Day. Not exactly an item that New Orleans is famous for, but mmm mmmm GOOD!

She had a stroke back in late July, is still recuperating (she goes home in a week or two, hopefully) & will probably never cook again. It's a loss for all of us in a lot of ways, but we had Thanksgiving today at the Luby's Cafeteria (home of the LuAnn Platter, and yes, that is for what the character of King Of The Hill was named) in Longview. The food was actually pretty damn good, not homemade, but still far above and beyond "typical cafeteria fare" (if you're from East Texas - and who here isn't - you'll know what I mean), and Mom ate more there today than she ever did when she made it all herself. She put it away! In spite of all the other realities at play, it did me good to see her be able to enjoy somebody else's Thanksgiving work for the first time since...I don't know when... I'll be 54 in a few weeks & I don't know that I've ever seen her not fix Thanksgiving dinner.

If/when she gets up to making the trip into the DFW area, and if/when my sister & brother-in-law can get into making the drive & bringing her along, LTB is more than ready, willing, and able to step up and hit the home runs. Until then, all of you who have the ongoing holiday dinner traditions firmly ensconced, treasure them, because like everything else in life, they won't last forever.

Sounds like you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

[JSngry]

Actually, we did. The family was together, and we ate, visited, cracked wise, same as always. The trappings were certainly different, but the core - the family - was still three, and, if anything, more in touch with the meaning of "giving thanks" than in quite a while.

It might well have been the most "adult" thanksgiving ever, because for once it was not about self-indulgence. This one was about being thankful & the joy that comes from being able to feel that feeling.