No Turkey Pot Pie For You

My idea of a happy ending to 2013 is to sell every single one of my listings in Sacramento by Christmas and, because of that goal, I forgot to make reservations for Thanksgiving. These sneaky holidays, always slipping into the calendar when I’m focused elsewhere.

We seem to always do something different for Thanksgiving. No year is the same. Last year we flew to the Midwest to celebrate Thanksgiving, so there wasn’t much to think about apart from turning off my computer and getting on the plane, or vice versa. The year before my sister and niece came to visit us from Minneapolis. Somewhere in between we had Thanksgiving at the Hyatt downtown, which is sort of like dining at the airport. And some years, until our friends moved to Boston, we’d join them at The Firehouse in Old Sacramento.

One of the thoughts that popped up in my mind this year was my husband could make a turkey pot pie, the old fashioned way. Something different, yeah? Except, not buy an entire turkey, just the thighs and drumsticks because my first preference is dark meat. Which is why I don’t like going out for Thanksgiving dinner because most restaurants serve processed turkey breast. Yuck. Sadly, the thought of a turkey pot pie did not excite the person I had expected to produce it.

Only because I didn’t create a Power Point presentation. If I had put together a slide show, starting with the cats bowing down on the floor in an obedient manner: you the man, you the man; followed by Thomas Dolby strolling through the kitchen playing a baby keyboard; then a slide showcasing a huge sunshine smile on my husband’s face as he’s rolling out dough, receiving a shoulder massage from his adoring lingerie-clad wife as he’s shelling peas; perhaps another sharing playful bites of turkey in a toothy tug-of-war like the dog we don’t have might do — he might have been induced to make a turkey pot pie.

But, as it is, no turkey pot pie. And I watched Thomas Dolby play 1980s music at the Crest, too. You’d think there would be a tradeoff.

Photo: Thomas Dolby at the Crest Theatre by Elizabeth Weintraub