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Home » Happy two-days-before-Thanksgiving!

Happy two-days-before-Thanksgiving!

The New Neo Posted on by

[NOTE: This is a slightly-edited reprint of a previous post.]

For me this year, Thanksgiving is going to feature a small gathering. Very small – two people. And so there won’t be a stuffed turkey, there will be turkey parts (all dark meat, which is what I prefer) and a modest amount of stuffing cooked outside the turkey. And it won’t feature this particular stuffing, which is something my family used to make quite a bit.

But I’m putting up the recipe anyway, in case you’re having a regular turkey and want something quite different. It’s sweet; I think it was originally for duck or goose. But it’s very yummy. I don’t have an actual recipe with amounts or anything like that, because it varies according to your needs and your tastes, but here it is: a large quantity of cut-up Granny Smith or any variety of tasty apples, cooked in a large pan in a fair amount of sherry as well as a ton of butter till a bit soft; and then mixed with prunes, almonds, and Sara Lee pound cake reduced to small pieces by crushing with the hands. That’s it.

I happen to like Thanksgiving. Always have. And although we’re wrestling with some very somber and sobering things this year, all of us probably still have a lot of things for which to be thankful. It’s a holiday for anyone and everyone in this country – except, of course, people who hate turkey. There are quite a few of those curmudgeonly folks, but I’m happy to report I’m not one of them.

Since I like to eat, I am drawn to the fact that Thanksgiving is a food-oriented holiday with a basic obligatory theme (turkey plus seasonal autumnal food) and almost infinite variations on that theme. Sweet potatoes? Absolutely—but oh, the myriad ways to make them, some revolting, some sublime. Pie? Of course, but what kind? And what to put on it, ice cream, whipped cream, or both?

For me, ordinarily (although not this year) there is one traditional requirement—besides the turkey, of course. There has to be at least one pecan pie, although eating it in all its sickening sweetness can put an already-sated person right over the top. And the cranberry sauce has to be made from fresh cranberries (it’s easy: cranberries, water, and sugar to taste, simmered on top of the stove till mushy and a bright deep red), and lots of it (it’s good on turkey sandwiches the next day, too).

Thanksgiving is one of the few holidays that has a theme that is vaguely religious—giving thanks—but has no specific religious affiliation. It’s one of the least commercial holidays as well, because it involves no presents. It’s a home-based holiday, which is good, too, especially this year.

I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving Day, with friends and/or family of your choice, and just the right amount of leftovers!

Comments

Happy two-days-before-Thanksgiving! — 46 Comments

  1. Thanksgiving is the one holiday all Americans, of any origin, can celebrate. We can see, then, why the left is trying, with considerable success, to eliminate it this year. Anything that makes us thankful to be Americans must be suppressed.

    Blessings on your small Thanksgiving, Neo.

  3. Neo, I wish you and yours a wonderful, relaxing Thanksgiving. I am thankful for your thought provoking posts.

  4. Enjoy your Thanksgiving too Neo. As bad as things are in this country, we still have much to be thankful for. Besides, what is the left going to do with 70+ million
    Trump voters?

  6. Kate, above @4:52 PM, I think you are exactly right. So, let us all enjoy our Thanksgiving and all the more because by doing so we are giving our enemies a symbolic thumb in the eye.

  9. Good news! We have successfully executed a prison break overcoming an administrator that pretty much accused me of lying so my mom is at our house where we will have a party of three for Thanksgiving. Of course even that is in defiance of the King’s proclamation outlawing gatherings of more than one household. The rest of the family have divided up into gatherings of about 8 and another of 15 where we normally would be but not this year.

    In all honesty I’m not sure how my mom would take a gathering of that size after nine months of basically solitary confinement.

  11. Happy Thanksgiving to you, Neo. I’m grateful for you and all the online folks that help me feel that we’re not alone, although it often feels that way.

  12. Hi, everyone. Thanks for the wishes to the hostess and all the people above, and whoever comes in after.

    I narrowly missed a dilemma myself. Well, I guess I didn’t really, but it just ended up taking a different form. I had been set to go to a local friend’s house with a few church people, but then I suddenly got word that that friend had decided against having non-family around. So I was at loose ends for a day or so, when my other best friend reminded me that I had already been invited out there tacitly, about which I’d forgotten. The thing is that that dinner will require me to drive for a few hours, but I decided to grab that chance. So I’ll have someplace to be. I live alone, so I would have been stuck had it not been for that.

    (It happens that my employer has just announced that it is going to require testing of all employees over the next few weeks between now and Christmas. So there’s that, too.)

  13. Well, I’m invited to Thanksgiving with someone I met through this very same blog.

    Thanks, neo!

  15. I am giving thanks for Jason Whitlock and his courage:

    https://www.outkick.com/whitlock-black-pride-religion-ordained-by-white-liberals-taking-black-people-and-america-straight-to-hell/

    For those of you unfamiliar with his work, he has been a sports columnist/commentator for years. He does not want politics in sports, but when leftist politics kept dominating the talk he started speaking out against it, then, ultimately speaking up for a sort-of Conservatism in sports. So, naturally the Left got the knives out and tried to cancel him. He is not only dangerous because he is so intelligent, he is dangerous because he refuses to toe the line regarding his skin color and his place on the plantation. If you haven’t heard him I highly recommend reading the above.

    Here’s a video where he slays Colin Kapernick and Nike: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnOf-Z-JOLo

    The guy is fearless. And brilliant. God bless Jason Whitlock.

  16. Rufus T. Firefly: Jason Whitlock is a jewel. I’ve been reading him a while. But he was on fire in your link:
    ________________________________________

    I am repulsed by the people who have worked tirelessly for more than 400 years to convince black people that our skin color is our most prized asset and defining characteristic. This conceit originally led to our physical enslavement. It has now led to our mental enslavement.

    The stewards of the zeitgeist — i.e. the spirit, mood, characteristics of a particular time in history — have persuaded black people to pursue blackness above all else, above faith, intelligence and freedom.

    I object. Passionately.

    This blinding, irrational pursuit is leading to the destruction of black people and the destabilization of our country.

    I object because I love black people, I love America and I love God.
    ________________________________________

    That’s testimony, folks.

  17. Thanksgiving is the time of feasting celebration, but it isn’t properly done unless there is a strong underlying theme of remembrance and gratitude through and through. As tough as it can be, we still are amazingly blessed to be part of this grand civilizational experiment.

    Happy Thanksgiving to all and blessings for the day.

  18. Whitlock is very interesting writer but I get the feeling he must be difficult to deal with after his flameout with the Undefeated at ESPN then Fox Sports. Hope it works at Outkick because they offer refreshing commentary on sports especially on matters of race and COVID in sports. Almost no one else saying these things in the sports world. Sportswriters are even more woke left than their political writer colleagues.

  19. Sportswriters are even more woke left than their political writer colleagues.

    Griffin: Ain’t that weird. One might have thought they would be the last bastion of conservative journalists.

    Was it Hunter S. Thompson’s fault? He started as a sportswriter.

  20. Huxley,

    One theory is it’s an inferiority complex and they want to be taken seriously.

    So many of them hate the sports they cover. Never more evident in how so many of them literally didn’t want there sports to start up again after shutdowns even though their jobs depend on them.

  22. Griffin: Tom Heinsohn, player/coach/broadcaster for the Boston Celtics, died two weeks ago. He was always on TV for the games I watched. When I learned, I found I missed him.

    Heinsohn never strayed from the game, bless him.

  23. Huxley,

    ‘Stick to sports’ became a thing as every sports figure felt the need to opine on politics.

    The politicization of everything is so damaging.

  25. We will be celebrating Thanksgiving as just three (myself, my wife and our son), in part due to our tin-pot dictator of a governor’s decree. My wife is doing everything she can to make this as akin to her family’s traditions as possible. My own, very random, tradition, is having a couple old fashioneds before the dinner (I couldn’t find the rye I prefer, so I’m going with bourbon).

    It will be a quiet, yet elegant day for us, capping off a frustrating, disorienting, entirely absurd and surreal year. I am most thankful for my health, my family (and their health), a certain amount of economic security and for still living in a somewhat free and prosperous society (though that has diminished by at least a third in the last year, and I expect it to diminish much more significantly and rapidly in the next year).

    Make the most of this Thanksgiving as best you can, my friends. Experience it to the fullest….with the hope that the next one will be much brighter, along with the realization it likely will not.

  26. The document below sets apart the last Thursday of November “as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise.” According to an April 1, 1864, letter from John Nicolay, one of President Lincoln’s secretaries, this document was written by Secretary of State William Seward, and the original was in his handwriting. On October 3, 1863, fellow Cabinet member Gideon Welles recorded in his diary how he complimented Seward on his work. A year later the manuscript was sold to benefit Union troops.

    Washington, D.C.
    October 3, 1863

    By the President of the United States of America.

    A Proclamation.

    The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

    In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

    Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth.

    By the President: Abraham Lincoln

    William H. Seward,
    Secretary of State

    Excerpt from this site:
    http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/thanks.htm

  27. In the comments to that Jason Whitlock piece someone wrote that Rush Limbaugh read the entire article on his program last Friday. I hope that is true. It needs to get out to a wider audience.

    I wrote this in a comment on a prior neo post, but although I share the pessimism of many here regarding the current state of affairs; those who have woken up to liberty and individualism (sometimes called “red pilled”), like most of us “changers” (to borrow neo’s term) here, will not return to sleepwalking through life with scales over our eyes.

    And among this new group are folks who don’t look or live like the stodgy, National Review columnist of old. Our own neo is a great example; female, Jewish, very well educated and credentialed, east coast former liberal… I was about to list more, but there are so many important, new lights the list would go on and on. And each one uses his or her own unique talents to appeal to those who can connect with their approach. Neo, for example, is great at detailed research, deep, extremely accurate and exhaustive dives into difficult subjects.

  28. Both sides (or three, four, five sides…) resent it when the elected King is not from their court. But as a solution they keep hoping for a new, better King, rather than realizing the solution is to make the King, any King, every King, less powerful.

    Rather than obsessing about vote tallies in corrupt cities and counties we need to work to fortify the checks and balances to keep federal power in abeyance. Stronger state Governors, attorneys general and legislatures working to restrict and limit Federal power. Stronger city and county officials and local law enforcement to keep Governors in check.

  29. To circle back to neo’s post and the topic of this thread:

    I am thankful for neo’s work on this blog. It is one of two or three sites I read most every day and it makes me glad when I see her posts linked on other sites as this means her audience can grow and more will benefit from her writing, thoughts and opinions.

    I think all who are familiar with her work know that she does not post anything serious without first doing detailed due diligence and I am sure that’s why major sites like instapundit and ace of spades do not hesitate to refer their readers to her work. They know that her work is high quality and well researched.

    Have a Happy Thanksgiving neo and all the merry band of reprobates who congregate here to read her writing and share their thoughts.

  30. Before I get too busy, finishing my week’s work in one day so that we can leave for Carmel on Friday and be with all 3 of our children and our grands, I want to express my thanks to Neo for all she offers here of her excellent talents and a forum for respectful discourse on myriad subjects. Thank you one and all. Thanksgving also marks our anniversary and the priest who celebrated our Nuptial Mass recommended that we celebrate on the day rather than the date and we have and do. 38 years tomorrow. This year I am especially thankful that my husband was spared from death in his 19 day hospital stay with the cytokine storm, the result of his COVID-19 infection. After 40 days of oxygen support, an angioplasty & stent, he has been in excellent shape after returning to fulltime work within 5 days of his surgery (June 4). Many here prayed for him and Neo offered a great support network. Forever grateful.

  31. I too want to say (write) how thankful I am to Neo for her thought-provoking posts, and to her many commenters who bring different perspectives and histories to this wonderful place. We are more family than many, and like our hostess with the apple in front of her face, we are all a little known but unknown to each other. I wouldn’t have it any other way!

  32. Carmel, Sharon W? Wow! It doesn’t get much better than that. Have a great holiday with your family and a very Happy Anniversary to you and Mr. W!

    (I’m curious. After your nuptials did you have a reception, and if so, did it consist of traditional, Thanksgiving fare?)

  33. Rufus T. Firefly–Thank you and yes, we had 2 meals: prime rib in the afternoon and the traditional Thanksgiving feast in the evening. All under a lighted tent in a yard in Northridge CA. My mother was full-blooded Sicilian–so food!! We were going to be just family, but some friends asked to attend as my husband and I had a long engagement (5 years), so people were excited that it was finally going to happen!

  35. Thanks, Sharon, for posting that extraordinary letter composed by Seward (though as I was reading it I thought it HAD to be Lincoln….

    Congratulations on your anniversary.
    Truly wonderful to hear about your husband’s recovery.

    And a very happy Thanksgiving to you all.

  36. This post caused me to do a bit of historical, Thanksgiving research last night and a question came to mind that had never occurred to me before. Does anyone know if there were diseases transferred from native Americans to Europeans that caused mass death? It seems like it would have had to work both ways. Separated by so much geography and time wouldn’t both continents have evolved unique, human harming bacteria and virii? And wouldn’t both continents have developed human populations mainly immune to those diseases that would have ravaged newcomers previously unexposed?

    I think close to 1/2 the Pilgrims died during the first year, most in the Winter and many from starvation. Conditions seem so harsh I’m not sure the Pilgrims would have noticed if there was an infectious disease also wreaking havoc, but it seems likely.

  37. Does anyone know if there were diseases transferred from native Americans to Europeans that caused mass death? It seems like it would have had to work both ways.

    Rufus T. Firefly: Syphilis is believed to have started in the Americas, though it might not meet your mass death requirement.

    Otherwise, diseases tend to go from east to west, because the east has larger, denser populations in proximity to animals.

    Jared Diamond presents a plausible discussion of this in “Guns, Germs and Steel.”

  39. Happy anniversary, Sharon W, and thanks be to God for your husband’s recovery. I almost lost my husband a few years ago, to a rare endocrine tumor, and am grateful every day he’s still here.

    To all of us, let’s take tomorrow to be thankful for our blessings, and for this country, and dedicate our efforts in the coming few years to trying to save it.

  40. Thanks huxley and neo. Very interesting article, by the way, although I agree with one of the commenters that there were large, relatively congested cities in North, Central and South America prior to Europeans arriving.

    And huxley, I actually read; “Guns, Germs and Steel,” but it’s obviously been so long ago (25+ years?) my feeble memory forgot that part.

  41. I wish to extend best wishes for the Thanksgiving holiday to all here. If all goes well, I’ll get in a little hunting tomorrow before dinner.

    But too, I’d like to single out a couple of posters who I have not seen recently: Parker, and miklosroza. All I cannot say we were especially simpatico, or pals of any sort, but I greatly appreciated the comments of both of them by and large. I hope they are well.

    And I hope that Phil Sells “the monk” , marries and has six kids. Ha!

  42. Ha indeed! I like that number, though, six, for children. I like even numbers.

    Yeah, where is parker?

    On the subject of the germs in the Western Hemisphere, I do have a copy of the Diamond book, but without pulling it down off the shelf, I would have supposed that since people weren’t in the Americas until relatively recently (Ice Ages), maybe human-specific pathogens didn’t have a chance to develop much of a history here compared to Eurasia/Africa. One obvious counterargument is that bacteria have a new generation every 20 minutes, so whether the time afforded is 10,000 years or 1 million shouldn’t make much difference.

  43. Neo: Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, and many more. Your thoughtful blog is for me another reason to give thanks, not just for your sane, honest, civil essays and questioning s, but for the responses of your readers. It’s a pretty classy crew you’ve attracted. Long may it flourish.

  44. Hi!
    I’m having a much smaller Thanksgiving gathering than I’m used to. In my case it’s reasonable because I’m busy growing a new immune system after a bone marrow transplant. (Giving thanks for 21st Century medicine.) The canonical 100 days post transplant for recovery expires December 19, and then I can start introducing my new immune system to vaccines all over again.

    Your stuffing recipe reminds me of this, which I found in “Fabulous Feasts”

    1/2 teaspoon basil
    1/2 teaspoon rosemary, crushed fine
    1/2 teaspoon thyme
    2/3 teaspoon salt
    2 cups oats, uncooked (I use rolled oats, aka oatmeal)
    2/3 cup dried apples, cut small
    2/3 cup figs, cut small (I use dried figs)
    1/2 cup beef stock or dry white wine (I use turkey stock, and increase the quantity a bit so the oats are dampened.)
    4 tablespoons butter
    2 raw apples
    1/2 lemon

    1. Mix first five ingredients well. Cut butter into small pieces and stir in to oat mixture.
    2. Mix in dried fruit.
    3. Stir in stock and mix well. Place in a casserole dish and cover with foil.
    4. Bake at 350 F for one hour.
    5. Peel and core apples, dice fruit. Stir in juice from 1/2 lemon to prevent browning.
    6. Remove oat mixture from oven, stir in diced apples. Serve with your favorite dead bird.

    Note: I’ve doubled the amount of butter the recipe calls for, and added extra stock, to make up for the fact that the stuffing never sees the inside of a bird.
    One year, I added dates, pitted and cut into small pieces. Quite yummy.

  45. Happy Thanksgiving to Neo … and all the commenters here.

    Turkeys in the oven for party of 2 at my house 🙂

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