No boxed stuffing at Christmas this year

Local columnist

link Grant McGee

Christmas time’s a- comin’, this week as a matter of fact.

What’s on your Christmas feast menu?

I’ll tell you this, there won’t be any “stuffing from a box” on our Christmas feast table.

We had that at Thanksgiving.

The Lady of the House and I probably won’t have it again.

I grew up in hotels; my dad was a hotel manager. I grew up on hotel food.

To be sure, there’s some fine hotel fare out there. There are also a lot of hotel dishes made from boxes like instant mashed potatoes, chicken stock from a can and “instant” stuffing.

My taste in food is often a source of lively discussion between The Lady of the House and me. Dining out I may delight in a platter of turkey, stuffing from a box, instant gravy, instant mashed potatoes, canned yams and frozen green beans while The Lady of the House glances at me in horror.

To her credit, The Lady of the House prepares most of our edible delights from scratch. For instance, her stuffing usually takes two days to prepare.

“I want some stuffing in a box for Thanksgiving this year,” I proclaimed some time before Turkey Day.

The Lady of the House gave me “The Look.”

“Oh, just for old times sake,” I said. “I used to eat it all the time.”

“OK,” she said. “And I’m only agreeing because it will save me some time this year.”

And so on Thanksgiving Day, right there beside the turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed taters, gravy and peas was my heapin’ helpin’ of stuffing from a box.

I scooped up mouthfuls of stuffing.

Then I paused.

“Yes?” asked The Lady of the House.

“It’s missing something,” I said.

“Texture?”

“Yes…” I said. “And…”

“Taste?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said. “Yours is better.”

The Lady of the House smiled and patted me on the hand and proceeded to enjoy her Thanksgiving dinner.

There was no stuffing on her plate.

Grant McGee is a long-time broadcaster and former truck driver who rides bicycles and likes to talk about his many adventures on the road of life. Contact him at his blog:

grantmcgeewrites.com