Frozen Thanksgiving

For the past decade, our tradition, if you will, has been to spend a quiet Thanksgiving at home. For my wife, who works full-time and has a long commute twice a day, driving long distances to a relative's house is no vacation.

Instead, she gets to sleep late, skip the shower, and put on comfy clothes. We enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee, have a light brunch, and cuddle up for an afternoon of football.

That being said, the one thing we don't skimp on is the meal. But we eschew (no pun intended) the ubiquitous turkey for more wide-ranging (and free-ranging) fare. Duck is a perennial favorite, but we've served a ground venison and cranberry meatloaf, moose roast, North Carolina country ham, and one year, an Atlantic Coast seafood feast. We've accompanied these main courses with all manner of unusual side dishes.

Our Thanksgiving evenings ended with homemade mile-high apple pie, sour-cherry pie, butterscotch cream pie, sweet potato pie with a shot of good Kentucky bourbon, pumpkin cheesecake in an Oreo cookie crust, and one time, an egg custard baked in a pumpkin shell.

But this year we're pulling out all the stops. We're not cooking at all. We'll be having Marie Callender's turkey pot pie, Stouffer's spinach souffle, canned cranberry sauce (whole and jellied), and for dessert, we bought a beautiful Marie Callender's pumpkin streusel pecan pie.

So, while you're slaving away in the kitchen before dinner, and scrubbing pots and pans after dinner, we'll be thinking of you - and giving thanks it's not us.