Dear Niagara Group, I just posted the following to the PADUTCH-LIFE list because we have been having an ongoing annual discussion of coping with the leftover turkey carcass. I'm sending it to all of you for what it's worth. If nothing else, it pretty much describes a family Thanksgiving dinner on Lutts Road in Town of Porter this evening. I wish you could have been there with us. vee Dear Group, For the past three years I have posted a message to the group about how I always get stuck with the turkey carcass from Thanksgiving dinner but this year is different! :-) For those of you who would like to read about my earlier encounters with the turkey carcass, the messages can be found in the archives. Go to the interactive search of Rootsweb mailing lists at http://searches2.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl and type in the name of the list PADUTCH-LIFE. From there search/query the word "carcass." for all three years (1998, 1999, 2000). All of my messages were written in the tone of an "old maid aunt" who always grumbles about wasting food, but they were also written by an aunt who was/is well aware how much her family loves her. I hope your Thanksgiving Day was just as special to you. vee YIPPEE! I Didn't Get Stuck With the Turkey Carcass!! This MUST be the millennium! This is the first year in many years that I didn't have to cart home the leftover turkey carcass after my niece Deb's Thanksgiving dinner. But this year I guess dinner at her house was also a bit different. On a sad note Deb's Grandma was no longer with us. But on a bright note, Deb's new granddaughter Madeline was there. And this year more people were invited. They are the future in-laws of Deb's daughter Dawn (my grand-niece). Along with her fiancée Ron, was his mother, his sister with her husband and son, and Ron's brother. At last count, there were 13 of us at a good old sit-down family Thanksgiving dinner. In other words, it was the first time that the two families had gotten together. But let me tell you, it was as if we had been family for a long time. Everyone made themselves at home, Ron's sister Sue helped Deb and Dawn with setting up the two long tables, everyone did what they could to help and when they couldn't help, they kept out of the way. And when it came to sitting down at the groaning table(s), everyone managed to find a place to sit even if meant having to squeeze between two others. By the way, when we sat down at the table the TV football game was turned OFF! After Dawn said a lovely Grace, the serving dishes of food were passed any old which-way-up,down or across the table-and the conversation was lighthearted and lively. As the dinner wound down and everyone was pretty much stuffed, the subject of leftovers for Auntie Vee came up. Well, of course, so was the subject of the turkey carcass. Deb and Dawn told Sue and Sue, Sr. (Ron's mom) about past dinners when they had loaded me down with the carcass. I told Sue, Sr., how I make a scrumptious turkey stock out of the carcass and she said that she makes it the same way-simmer on low for 12 to 24 hours. So (tee hee) guess who got stuck with the turkey carcass this year? Sue, Sr.!! She didn't mind at all and if I play my cards right, I'll make certain that Sue, Sr. is invited to all future Thanksgiving dinners! But Auntie Vee still came home with plastic cartons of lotsa good stuff! As usual, Deb had made one of her famous table centerpieces of raw vegetables arranged in a flower bouquet effect. This year the flowers were anchored into a base of a half of overturned cantaloupe. Last year I think it was a large potato and the year before it was a rutabaga. In addition was her now famous "flying duck" arrangement made out of a yellow summer squash with a carved carrot beak and clove eyes. Well, as usual, Auntie Vee was invited to disassemble the centerpiece and tuck the vegetables into Zip-Lock bags to take home with her. The "dead duck" will give me two servings of summer squash for dinner, I'm gonna splurge and sauté up the (expensive) sweet red and orange peppers for another vegetable serving, the carrots will make another serving, the green onions will end up in a salad and the cantaloupe will be a special treat. So as Thanksgiving Day winds down for me, I can look back over the day and be thankful for the most important blessing in my life-my family. We've always been a unique collection of family members and it looks like we're going to add a few more unique members to it next year at the wedding. Of course, the food was plentiful and we all thanked the Lord for that-especially Auntie Vee.

What?? No football during thanksgiving dinner... why that's un-American! Johnny Farmers Branch, Tx Alternate E-mail: searchangel@ureach.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Vee L. Housman" <housman@adelphia.net> To: <NYNIAGAR-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, November 23, 2000 9:00 PM Subject: YIPPEE! I Didn't Get Stuck With the Turkey Carcass!! Dear Niagara Group, ......place to sit even if meant having to squeeze between two others. By the way, when we sat down at the table the TV football game was turned OFF!