Thanksgiving Friendship Dinner Poem

by Cindy
(Atlanta, GA, USA)

So there it was. After 19 years of Thanksgiving dinners, it was now my turn to create the Thanksgiving Day feast. I was fairly new to Los Angeles, and felt hosting the dinner for my newfound friends was a good way to cultivate friendships. They didn't know I had never cooked a turkey by myself.

My mother had always insisted on a Butterball. But my budget prevailed, bringing me to buy more moderately priced poultry. I took home my frozen friend, and remembered that one must place said bird in the refrigerator for one or two days.
Truthfully, I didn't know how many days but did know the purpose was to thaw the thing, so hoped it would let me know when it was ready.

On Thanksgiving morning I peeled, chopped, prepped for the meal and set the table ahead of time. I gave my now thawed hen (who did let me know it was ready by soaking the towel it was sitting on in addition to the shelf underneath in the fridge) a ceremonial christening bath and removed the bag of goodness knows what from its uh, cavity.

I placed the hen into the preheated oven.

My guests arrived to the wonderful aromas so familiar on Thanksgiving day. The bird was cooked to perfection, the potatoes smooth and quite raved about, and friends brought delicious side dishes which accompanied the hen beautifully.

I was thankful for the day, the friends, and my parents who had sneaked some common sense into my early years.

Thanksgiving Friendship Dinner Poem

The time of year is come
to gather for the feast,
for many or for some,
or singles at the least.

The day is filled with food
and conversation then,
and light will be the mood
when on the table sits the hen.

So what is for this day
that we gather and we eat?
We most thankfully do pray
because our lives are but a treat.