Thanksgiving has passed and the weight has been gained. It surely was fun putting it on; now for the hard part: taking it off just to do it again around Christmas. It will be the same type of food and hopefully leftovers will not last that long, so it will be freshly cooked food all around.

Each year, we gather as a family at someone’s house and have the big spread with each one bringing to the table the thing that they cook best, or at least what the other family members say they cook best. Being in a large family I have the opportunity to eat quite a large meal and never even sample all that is brought, especially the desserts. Carrying a high sugar count, that is not all that bad, but so many of the good foods have more sugar than is desired. But then Thanksgiving only comes one time a year, just as the Christmas feast comes one time a year also.

Maybe we can be forgiven for most of what we eat and accept the punishment during the non-holiday times of the year. My nephew, Josh, will help me out. Several years ago we ended up with about seven cheese cakes at Thanksgiving. Josh and I started out with one each and then divided another one. Our kin didn’t even make a good dent in the other four.

My mother always cooks the dressing and it is something to behold. Another thing I like pretty good is stuffing, but it doesn’t hold a candle to southern-made dressing. That along with the turkey and a ham could make an entire meal. It doesn’t, however. My sisters aren’t bad in the cooking department, either, as well as one brother-in-law. The other brother-in-law and myself just sit back and watch. We certainly don’t want to be the cause of messing something up.

This year we had the feast at my son’s house. They had recently moved into a larger house-one that is large enough to hold Kaylee’s toys. They are ever expanding. We were sitting in the den getting the last-minute details taken care of. David asked who was bringing the corn. My baby sister, Joan, usually brings corn and mother does if the crowd is extra-large, but we hadn’t got a definite ‘yes’ from either of them. Ole Dave says, “If we don’t have corn, Thanksgiving is canceled.”

This time Joan also made some Brunswick stew. That stuff has something from all the food groups, the necessary ones anyway. It just brings something to the table that the ham and turkey leave out. Those nephews didn’t get to weighing over 250 pounds by not getting good food. Even the skinny nieces might put on a pound or two with all this food around. We eat out so much that this kind of a meal has special meaning to us. We decided long ago that we can eat out about as cheaply as we can cook for the two of us, so the holiday meals are special.

We can go out and eat fish, but seldom sucker sides. Deer meat is not something that is easily gotten when we go out to eat. So there are a few things that are not available for the asking. But there is enough available here in Bainbridge to get by on and really get by quite well, especially with a few of the extras coming along now and then. This is a good part of the world to be from and also to live in. The foods of Southwest Georgia helps to make it so. Having kin like mine that are able and willing to cook makes it all the better.