caseydog - I don't really have a lot of memories of Thanksgiving meals growing up; not because we didn't have them, just that they were pretty unspectacular. Like your folks, we had all the usuals (including the canned jellied cranberry sauce, which I happen to love).
We raised our own stuff, though, so most of the food didn't come from the store. My grandad raised turkeys for several years, so that's where the bird came from.
One thing my mom always bought...those cheap-ass dinner rolls, 12 or 16 to a pack, with the two lines cut across the top, and that was our bread. Mom didn't bake a lot of bread, as a rule.
Except for the turkey, it was like any other meal, really, because we always ate really well. Once everyone moved out of the house, for a period of 10 years or so, Mom would have Thanksgiving, but by then, she'd moved on to buying everything, and she's always been extra-frugal, so it was always a pre-cooked turkey breast, boxed stuffing, canned this and that, frozen pies, and not very good.
Nowadays, my sister has tried to take over, and she's that unfortunate combination of obsessive cook/terrible cook, and she's naturally disorganized and easily put off her game, plus she has serious anger/rage issues, so the moment things start to head just a little off script...look out. She's like a Martha Stewart who can't cook combined with She-Hulk. If we go over to her house, it's a house full of people on pins and needles, hoping not to inadvertently do something to awaken the beast.
We raised our own stuff, though, so most of the food didn't come from the store. My grandad raised turkeys for several years, so that's where the bird came from.
One thing my mom always bought...those cheap-ass dinner rolls, 12 or 16 to a pack, with the two lines cut across the top, and that was our bread. Mom didn't bake a lot of bread, as a rule.
Except for the turkey, it was like any other meal, really, because we always ate really well. Once everyone moved out of the house, for a period of 10 years or so, Mom would have Thanksgiving, but by then, she'd moved on to buying everything, and she's always been extra-frugal, so it was always a pre-cooked turkey breast, boxed stuffing, canned this and that, frozen pies, and not very good.
Nowadays, my sister has tried to take over, and she's that unfortunate combination of obsessive cook/terrible cook, and she's naturally disorganized and easily put off her game, plus she has serious anger/rage issues, so the moment things start to head just a little off script...look out. She's like a Martha Stewart who can't cook combined with She-Hulk. If we go over to her house, it's a house full of people on pins and needles, hoping not to inadvertently do something to awaken the beast.