The carcass of a turkey lies on the serving block relentlessly picked clean.
The creamed potato bowl is left with just bits sticking to the sides. The dressing has been devoured and even the foil pan is bent. There is a plop of cranberry sauce in the floor and all kinds of scraps are hiding underneath the table. 
My family is sitting around complaining about how much they have eaten and how full they are. I did not time the actual meal, but I imagine it took about 30 minutes for folks to eat their fill. Do they know it took me three DAYS to prepare this enormous meal? Three days of shredding, smashing, mincing, reading recipes, braising, boiling and baking to get this meal to the table to be devoured in only 30 minutes!
It just amazes me how everything is over so quickly.
Of course, the preparation with all of its assembling and creating, cleaning done for the company, and watching all this effort exhaust itself in just a matter of minutes is not what this holiday is about. It is about the coming together of my children, grandchildren, extended family and friends.
It is about 22 of my treasured loved ones being together for another year. We have lost several of our family members through the years, but we carry on the traditions created early in life. One of my sons always blesses the meal and gives thanks that we are all together for one more Thanksgiving, everybody talking over everybody else, oohs and aahs over the scrumptious taste of all the food, hugs aplenty, talking about what we are thankful for this year, and always enjoying the camaraderie of my precious family and friends.
This is the holidays. This is the happiness and joy of just being together. The enjoyable food is just the by-product.
WEEKLY RECIPE
If I am fortunate enough to have any turkey left over, this is one of my family’s favorites.
Left-Over Turkey Pot Pie – 2 nine-inch unbaked pie shells, 1 can of mushroom soup, 1 cup chopped turkey, 1 ten ounce can of mixed vegetables, drained, 1/3 cup of milk.
Preheat oven to 400*. Place one of the pie crust in the pie dish. In a bowl mix the rest of ingredients and pour over the crust. Then place the other pie crust on top crimping edges to seal. Bake 45 minutes.
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Peggy Sims is a Kosciusko native that writes a weekly column for The Star-Herald.
