A Very Cranberry Thanksgiving

Only six of us at the table, but it was a jolly feast -- a hobbit would say it rained drink and snowed food.  Once again, Bruce and I had The Battle of the Turkeys.  As is our custom, Bruce cooked his outside in the barrel smoker, while mine was stuffed and roasted in the oven.  And maddeningly, as usual, no one would admit that my turkey was infinitely superior, even though we all knew that his turkey was soundly trounced.  Everyone was just too diplomatic to say it.  But I'm not!  :)  

But, on this day, it wasn't the turkeys that ended up taking center stage -- it was, for reasons you will soon see,  the cranberry sauce.  I adore the sweet-savory flavor of cranberry sauce with turkey, and this Thanksgiving I went overboard and we ended up with a total of four different cranberry sauces set around the table. 


The happy group minus me: Bruce, Alan, Becky, Oma Claire and Grandpa Ian



The happy group minus Becky



Oma and Grandpa (note blue bowls of cranberry sauce - this is important)

Moments after the last picture was taken, a piece of flaming wick fell off one of the candles and set fire to the tablecloth.  Not surprisingly, this made for a bit of panic around the table.  At first Alan, who was sitting closest, tried to mash out the flame with his thumb.  This was unsuccessful (and cries of pain ensued).  Quick thinker that he is, Alan then flicked the wick into the nearest bowl of cranberry sauce (my hot jalepeno recipe suddenly got hotter).   The flame gave up and fizzled out.  Alan scooped the soggy wick out of the bowl with a spoon and heroically carried it off to the kitchen sink.  Enthusiastic applause.

The lesson: little bowls of cranberry sauce, strategically placed around the table, make fine fire extinguishers.  Who knew?  So now my used-once-a-year Thanksgiving tablecloth has a memory of this feast in the form of a small hole in the middle of it.  Pish - no worries; next year I'll just cover it with a bowl of cranberry sauce.

Despite that excitement, it was a lovely get-together.  We ended with a desert of the two lovely pies that Oma had baked.  Good food, good conversation and lots of leftovers to send home with our guests.

Happy Thanksgiving!