A Cooperative Thanksgiving
My girls are old enough now to actively participate in the preparations involved with a Thanksgiving dinner. While we are going the simple route this year, as it will just be our immediate family, we will still have plenty to do to make a memorable meal. Since a new baby around the house means that I will inevitably have to neglect something(s), I decided to recruit the rest of the family to pitch in. What we have done is had everyone select at least one dish that they want to make (ideally from start to finish, although the girls will still need help with some tasks, I’m sure), but there are many relatively easy things that youngsters can help with, even with such an epic meal.
My 7-year-old has opted to do gravy. Since that is ideally a last-minute task, I also talked her into choosing one other item. The jury is still out, as she is deciding between the turkey (she should be able to handle our tiny 8-pounder just fine) or the stuffing. Since she likes to chop and mix, that may be more up her alley, but we’ll see.
My 5-year old has chosen pie. I gave her the choice of pumpkin and pecan, the two I was planning on making, but she resisted, and chose apple instead. While I am not a huge fan of apple pie, we do have some apples that are in need of being used up, so I agreed — this is, after all, partly about empowering them in the kitchen.
Dad will make bacon-wrapped shrimp for an appetizer, which my mouth is already watering over, especially as he’ll wrap up part of the batch with halved jalapenos at my request.
And I get to do the mashed potatoes, squash, brussels sprouts, and bread — although the kids may want to participate in the preparation of homemade crescent rolls, too! We have cranberries canned from last year so that part is done! (What foresight I had!)
Everyone is so excited — me to have the extra help and to see the kids’ sense of accomplishment at our stay-at-home-potluck, and them to be able to have control (more or less, as I will provide step-by-step and maybe even illustrated instructions to guide them) and be able to add their own little “flare” to the dish that they create. Two of the most important things about this holiday, after all, is family and food, and this Cooperative Thanksgiving will definitely make us all more thankful for both!
