May Your Holidays Be Light
December 8, 2008
On Thanksgiving this year I gave up the turkey.
I ALWAYS make turkey just the way my mother did. I LOVE having turkey this way. You can guess what it meant to hand over the turkey, the stuffing AND the gravy.
And guess what? This year's bird was even juicier and more delicious. The gravy was excellent. The stuffing? Not too bad.
But the freedom I got! The oven space! The good will I created! My son-in-law-to-be and his father couldn't have been happier with their responsibilities, which made everyone else happy too.
Big holiday meals are about tradition. But they are also about flexibility and change -- letting newcomers bake the turkey if their hearts are set on it and if they are good cooks and if they will cook it outside using the barbeque as an oven so I have more flexibility in cooking the vegetables.
My moment of truth came when I realized that the holiday was not about my personal turkey obsession, but about helping this new extended family to gel.
This holiday season, may you have the lightness of heart to give up your own personal turkey, if that's what it takes.
Mealtimes Matter Video
from Miriam Weinstein
About Miriam
Miriam Weinstein is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. As a journalist, she has won several awards from the New England Press Association. Her work has appeared in Boston Magazine, the Boston Globe magazine, Hope, and ParentSource. A former staff member for North Shore Weeklies and freelancer for Essex County Newspapers, she writes restaurant reviews and food columns as well as features on a wide variety of subjects. She lives in Gloucester, Massachusetts, with her husband and has two grown children.
The Surprising Power of Family Meals
In her book, The Surprising Power of Family Meals, Miriam Weinstein shows how this basic human institution helps nourish and strengthen our families today.