6 / JANUARY 2022 PRIME
Holiday dinners By Lois Stephens
H
oliday dinners at my house have certainly changed throughout the course of my life. When I was a youngster, holiday meals were true extravaganzas. Three generations of family sat down at the same table, which itself was overburdened and groaning under the weight of a huge turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, a variety of salads, candied sweets, stuffed dates and olives, and several cranberry dishes, just to name a few items on that table. We stuffed ourselves until we could barely move, and then
the pumpkin and mincemeat pies made their appearances. Needless to say, holiday dinners left us in food comas for hours. It isn’t like that any longer. Through the years, holiday gatherings have become less and less lavish and less and less populated. At this point in my life, simple meals work well, don’t crash the pocketbook, and allow us to feel quite satisfied but not stuffed to bursting. For the most part, simpler meals mean less planning, less preparation, and less stress.
We now try to share holiday dinners with the neighbors when possible, and this year they were fortunate enough to escape Nevada and come to their mountain home for Thanksgiving. I told the neighbor lady before she got here that I already had a fully cooked, smoked turkey breast that we would share with them prior to Thanksgiving, and that my husband had bought thick, luscious steaks for us all to enjoy on Thanksgiving Day itself. Because we have limited freezer space, I had stored these items in the freezer in her garage.
The neighbors arrived on schedule, so we decided to have the turkey meal on Tuesday, and enjoy the steaks on Thanksgiving. We would hold the Tuesday meal at our residence and have the Thanksgiving meal at theirs. We try to share preparation of these meals so I agreed to cook up the turkey, gravy, provide cranberries, and have some sort of salad, while they would bring potatoes and pie. Tuesday arrived blustery and cold. I decided that rather than lighting the barbecue to heat up the turkey breast, I would simply
