Dh called her to see when she's coming. Usually she comes all dolled up waiting to be served. In the meantime I look like a trainwreck from cooking all day.

Anyway, Dh asked her to come early so she could help with Henry (our toddler) since I would be cooking all day. She said OK, but "Why will Melissa be cooking all day. All she has to do is put the turkey in the oven and wait."


Ummmm.... I know she's from Europe and thanskgiving isn't "her" holiday. but she's had thanksgivign with us about 10 times and when we lived far away, she went to friends for 2 years. I ALWAYS have a huge spread and she always says it's too much food. (I cook all day thursday and then not again until Sunday!) What is she thinking?!?!!? And what kind of thanksgiving is that where we have just a turkey?? Or... am I the weirdo for having so many leftovers? Ugh..... she drives me NUTSO!!!

Thought I would share my "spread":

Chestnut Soup
Orange Cranberry Sauce
Winter Squash Rolls
Almond Green Beans
Buttered Brussell Sprouts
Scalloped Corn
Gingered Cranberry Cornbread Stuffing
Roasted Herb Turkey
Deep Dish Apple Pie with homemade Cinnamon Ice Cream
Sweet Potato Pie with Whipped Cream

Guess I better start cooking if I want to be ready by 4 pm!!! LOL This is my "spread" pretty much every year for the past three or four, so where does she forget that?!?!?!? It's not a very forgettable meal!

melissa

maybe she thinks when you open the turkey up to bake it, the whole spread pops out finished and ready to serve.

Maybe just for the chuckles, set the table all ready for dinner, gather the family around and just put the turkey on the table...nothing else...until she acknowledges that there is more food and a lot more work to the meal!

You'd probably have to let somebody else in on the "joke" in order to pull it off, but I for one would love to see her face if you do it! Janice

You mean the rest isn't catered? You actually cook? Does she get this concept??????

berryblondeboys,

You forgot to include your address so that I could critique your menu firsthand.

Especially the sweet potatoe pie, I really enjoy that so much more than pumpkin.

Henry sounds charming, I'd be more than happy to watch him so that you could conjure up the magical turkey with all the fixings

Having a bountiful and lovely Thanksgiving dinner is your family's tradition; enjoy it! Your DH knows how much work and love you put into the meal, and Henry knows it's a special day.

Your MIL probably never paid much attention to what was going on... (and probably never will).

Please don't take it personally, I just don't think she has a clue.

Okay, dumb northern girl here, but pumpkin and sweet potato pies look the same. What's the big difference? And yes, I DO know it's different veggies lol

Oh I feel for you! We should start a support group!

MILs can be terrible. Mine would never say that because she does tons of cooking for holiday meals but she drives me up the wall too.

I like the idea about putting just a turkey on the table.

I dont like sweet potato pie. It looks exactly the same but the taste is much different. You should have a taste of both. Its a good way to break any diet you may have or think you may want after these holidays. I bought a sweet potato pie and then relized oh my this isnt right at all as soon as I tasted it.

Orange Cranberry Sauce
Gingered Cranberry Cornbread Stuffing
Roasted Herb Turkey
Deep Dish Apple Pie with homemade Cinnamon Ice Cream

&

Sweet Potato Pie with Whipped Cream

(Thank you for understanding)

Oh I want to come to your house!

Thanks everyone! I had forgotten to add to the list hot spiced mulled cider.

It took ELEVEN hours of cooking 7 am to 6 pm, but the meal was DELICIOUS and everything was served hot and not overcooked! YAY!!!

My older son Adrian (he's ten) was in heaven. Besides my MIL once saying, "She should have put the turkey in earlier", and my ten year old saying that I couldn't because other things were in the oven. (Which then she said I should have cooked all those yesterday! UGH... things baked a day early don't taste as good!) and then my husband also saying she "shouldn't talk about or make suggestions about things she doesn't know about". It was a perfect meal.

Initially I had hoped to be done by 4 pm, but by noon I could tell it would be about 6 pm. too many things need to share oven space.... Hmmm... maybe next year I'll have MIL cook the turkey in her oven so I can free mine up! (She only lives 3 miles away).


That both my ten year old and my husband defended me and I didn't even hear the complaint, means that they didn't mind a later meal. We always eat around 5:30 anyway for Thanksgiving, so this was pretty par for the course. I think it bugged her because she usually eats her main meal at 3 pm. We fed her lunch at noon (all of us), but she's not a cook. Holiday meals at her house usually means cold food and not enough. Since she eats barely anything any more, she forgets that other people actually have appetites. When she makes rice she uses like 3/4 cup of rice for 4 people (and that's not counting the toddler!)


Now, Differences between homemade fresh pumpkin pie and sweet potato pie are not many, imo. I pretty much use the same spices for both and their consistency is pretty close. I had a sweet potato pie once that was really bland, but that was just the cook's recipe. It tastes WAY different than canned pumpkin pie, but pretty similar to fresh pumpkin to everyone in my family. The recipe I used for sweet potato pie was Emeril's online recipe and it was really yummy! Just whip up some of your own sweetened whipped cream and yum!

Now I'll enjoy our refrigerator full of leftovers and RELAX! LOL

Melissa

glad it turned out alright for you! I'll give you my address so you can mail out the leftovers