Thanksgiving Turkey

Having a table full of family for Thanksgiving dinner, though joyful, even when everyone is bringing dishes to help the cooking load as well as the expense, is still a lot of work.

As is my custom, the table had been set for a couple of weeks. I change the settings according to the season, but put the dishes back on the table after when I have used them. This looks great and saves me all kinds of work.

That Monday, however, I realized I needed to pick up some frozen turkeys in order for them to thaw properly (in the fridge) by the next night, when I planned to stuff them Wednesday. I did not want to take the time to shop around and comparison shop. The nearby ALDI was selling turkeys for $1.19 a pound. I had decided to prep, stuff and bake two smaller turkeys this year instead of the larger 24-pound one. They would fit side by side on my oven shelves better, and we would have four drumsticks instead of two, for those who wanted them.

A notice caught my eye last evening when I opened my AOL homepage. The headline teased the reader about finding the cheapest turkeys and about how to prepare them without risking salmonella poisoning. Clicking on the article, I read to discover that this writer felt Walmart had the best prices.

So after rising at 3:30 a.m. (yes, I’m not sleeping well), cleaning some more in the garage, making a list of everything that needed to be accomplished today before I went out to O’Hare to pick up David at the International Terminal, I headed to Walmart at 7:00 (they’re open 24 hours). Sure enough, I found turkeys for 73 cents a pound, bought two, did the rest of my holiday shopping and had everything stored away by 8:30—the turkeys thawing for a couple hours on the just-cleaned counter in our garage.

These are divine mercies, little graces that make our lives easier. My one trip, instead of three or four, opened my day to write these blogs, get the Advent communion tablecloth cut that I am making for our church’s table, dig in the kitchen garbage while the ground is still soft during an unseasonably warm spell, and still have enough time to change clothes to look good for my returning husband and even do some final errands as I drive to meet him at O’Hare.

Believe me, as I am taking the time to write about this, a warm infusion of appreciation is flooding my being—one of those healthy effects the researchers are discovering as they look carefully at the impact of living a lifestyle of gratitude.

I sing with the psalmist:

“We give thanks to Thee, O God; we give thanks; we call on thy name and recount thy wondrous deeds.” —Psalm 75:1

Yes we do.

I spy God!