Thanksgiving perfection -- man style

There are some real advantages to living alone.  On of the biggest arguments I remember in the family when I was there for a holiday meal came during a football game.  It was 1971, when the Kansas City Chiefs met the Miami Dolphins in a playoff game, one that turned out to still be the longest game in NFL history.  It lasted 82 minutes.

But the NFL meant nothing to my mother and her dinner schedule for that Christmas Day. Born of rigid German stock the schedule was hers and woe be to anyone who didn't want to go along. When dinner was ready you went to the dining room.  She called dinner a few minutes before the end of regulation.  I objected and said the game was almost over.  Even that was not going to be tolerated, but by the time everyone moved to the table and we argued a bit, the game ended.  Well, it  headed into the fith quarter.  I put up a fight,  offering to eat in front of the television.  No one was going to be allowed to do that.  All right, I'll come to the table for the prayer and back to the game. Nope, you are in my house, you will sit down at the table when I say it's time.  But this is a playoff game. 

Not too important to her, I could tell, as she crossed her arms and planted her feet glaring at me.

All right I just won't eat dinner then.  That of course was not going to be tolerated, nor was sitting at the table where I could see the television.  I even offered to do that with the sound turned off. There was no one else in the family even vaguely interested in football so I was on my own. Today, I can't rmember how it ended, but I am pretty sure I capitulated, rather than bear the guilt of spoiling everyone's Christmas dinner. She was good at guilt.

Miami went on to win the game on a field goal halfway through the sixth quarter.  But I didn't get to see that.

So with that as background, here's the perfection.

Three games today and I worked it out this way:   During halftime of the second game, Washington Redskins vs. Dallas Cowboys, I managed to mix the stuffing, stuff the turkey and get it into the oven and only miss about two minutes of the third quarter.  I pulled off a few odds and ends during commercials.  Then, at halftime between the Patriots and Jets, the turkey, obviously a small one, was done.  It was a long halftime and that helped.  I manged a quick pot of green beans, mashed the potatoes,  mixed up the gravy, hacked a couple of pieces of meat off the turkey and dug out a couple of serving spoons full of stuffing.  Made it back in front of the TV with a plate full of Thanksgiving in time for the second half kickoff. And I did it all without any real hurry.

So, pie?  I ought to have digested just enough to make room for that by the end of the game.

All of it accomplished and I might have missed two or three plays is all;  oh, except for falling asleep during the second quarter of the first game.  And, no arguments about anything.

The NFL's longest game