Argo Online

By Andrew Parr

Thanksgiving is a holiday that should be shared with family and friends. To me, the aspect of family on this day is particularly important. Ever since I can remember, my family has treated Thanksgiving as a collaborative effort. Everyone brings something to the finished product, which is a beautiful, bountiful Thanksgiving table.
For most people, Thanksgiving starts the morning of that fourth Thursday in November. For The Parr Family, though, it begins the day before the actual holiday. My mom contributes the majority of the Thanksgiving meal, which includes a spread of desserts. She makes both apple and pumpkin pie the day before and then serves them on Thanksgiving. This is the first sign that Thanksgiving is here.
One tradition that our family has is to go out to eat the night before Thanksgiving, to give everyone a break and officially start the holiday. After we return home, my dad and I make homemade cranberry sauce, something we’ve been doing for about 8 years. The actual process is quite easy – all you need to do is boil sugar, water, cranberries, and apple peel together, and then strain the mixture. The apple peel is what makes the cranberry sauce jell. Even though this sauce is easy enough to be made by one person, my dad and I like to do it together, because we get to spend time together, talking about whatever. This year, it happened to be about what kind of used car you can buy for under $4,000. The topics don’t matter; it’s just the idea of continuing this tradition that makes it fun to do.
On the morning of Thanksgiving, my dad and I head back into the kitchen again to deal with the turkey itself. For years, the turkey would come out too dry, and it wasn’t at all enjoyable to prepare or eat. However, about 4 years ago, I made a discovery that changed the way we make turkey. If you start the turkey at 425 degrees and then lower it to 325, it cooks perfectly. We prepared the turkey according to my discovery, and then vacated the premises so that my mom could have the kitchen and oven to herself. This year, she made a corn pudding, which was sensational, along with acorn squash, and a sweet potato and apple casserole. After she was finished with her preparations, into the kitchen I went to make mashed potatoes.
If there is one dish that I can make well, it’s mashed potatoes – They are not only delicious but also incredibly easy to make. I start with Idaho potatoes and boil them until they are soft. A stand mixer makes the mixing much easier while you add milk, butter, and salt to them.
After all the food is prepared, my two grandmas come over to take part in the Thanksgiving dinner. One of my grandmothers brings fresh vegetables and dip as an appetizer. My other grandma brings her singing voice and lots of ambition, as she looks forward to singing at our piano each year. This is something I always look forward to because I always need to practice my sight-reading. It’s nice too, because my other grandmother gets to listen to the two of us and tell us what she thinks. She usually says it sounds nice, but it’s too loud.
As you can see, for my family, Thanksgiving is about more than just the food itself. It’s about how the food was made, with whom it was made, and with whom it is shared. I know everyone in my family thoroughly enjoyed our Thanksgiving 2009. I hope yours was enjoyable as well.