There is a recurring family “drama” regarding Thanksgiving dessert in my husband’s family (we have always celebrated Thanksgiving with his family, Christmas Day with mine):
Our family get togethers for Thanksgiving dinner have included up to 24 people. This year, the number is down to only 12, due to deaths in the family and certain family members not being able to be here due to… well, you know. (NOTICE: yes, there are more people than what is “allowed” by current restrictions… however, there are three households living almost literally across the street and next door to each other in our little rural enclave that interact with each other on a daily basis so…)
Every year, Mom makes the turkey, gravy, stuffing, and onion rolls. My sister in law makes whipped sweet potatoes with crushed pecans, mashed potatoes, two different cranberry dishes (one-cranberry relish with oranges and two-frozen cranberries and cream cheese), and two or three pies: pecan, cherry, and sometimes blueberry. I make a scalloped corn casserole, traditional green bean casserole, and five pies: 2 pumpkin, chocolate cream, coconut cream, and an apple-pear-cranberry pie (which I will swap out with peach if I can’t get to the store to get the apples and pears.)
EVERY YEAR, my mother in law and sister in law say we have too many pies. EVERY YEAR, we have a big discussion: Which one do you want to eliminate? EVERY YEAR, not one pie gets eliminated (except for when we finally eliminated lemon meringue 3 years after my father in law passed because he was the only one who ate it and, for sentimental reasons, my sister in law kept making it)… and EVERY YEAR, there is not one slice of pie left by the time Monday rolls around.
Two years ago, we instituted “Pie Night” on the night before Thanksgiving. My sister in law noted that hardly anyone could eat dessert after the big family meal, so we decided to have “pie for dinner” the night before Thanksgiving. It’s become a hit! And now Mom goes around telling everyone, “Don’t eat so much pie, we won’t have any left for Thanksgiving!”
