Thanksgiving 2.3: The First Modern Sequel

     I thought for this week to go back in time a few years. We had several first timers at TH2.5 and I'm hoping to see a few new faces this coming year. I know they will not know the short, but illustrious history of the sequel to "American Holiday of Gratitude".

Thanksgiving 2.1

     The holiday had very humble beginnings. Way back in 2008 the day had no name, no overarching theme, no holiday decorations, just a gathering with several friends and a hankering for fried foods. It is interesting to note that the original TH2 was a fried foods gathering, and one of the highlights of every TH2 are the fried turkeys. It was a modest gathering with just around 25 people. It sprang from an idea to get out the deep fryer. The fryer is best when used with a crowd. We decided to make buffalo wings, traditional french fries and sweet potato fries for the “main meal”. I think I made a few country fried steaks that night too. The dessert portion was the real highlight of the night. That was the first time I had ever fried Oreos and Twinkies. I also made funnel cake and fried dough, both are simpler accompaniments to the fancier desserts. It was like a mini fair right there in the kitchen. 
On another note, this is a time well before I knew what good beer is. I believe someone brought a case of Yuengling or Sam Adams. At least I can say we had decent taste then. The fun continued on into the night and I considered it a successful gathering. I won't tell you how many Oreos were eaten that night, but I do know that everyone left full and happy.

    The months rolled by and I brought up the idea for another fried foods get-together. The cold winter months seemed like the best time to dig the fryer out again. So it might not have been by design, but the second winter holiday was on the schedule.

Thanksgiving 2.2

     Here we were trying to repeat the successful gathering of 2008. Since the fryer is a piece of equipment I save for special occasions, so I liked to gather as many people over to the house as possible. Again, we did the standard fried fare, but I added fried candy bars. I had seen on the History Channel that some vendors at various state fairs had been frying Snickers, Milky Ways, and Three Musketeer bars. We found some fun size bars and snack size and gave it a try. The fun size worked perfectly, the snack size were simply too small. You taste the chocolate, but not the filling.

Even with the problems of snack size bars they event went over very well. We had everyone return, and even added a handful of people, maybe 35 at the max. Again another successful event. Full bellies and happy times were had.

     Since I had a such good time in 2009 during our winter gathering, I started thinking bigger. I had a few discussions with one of my friends and I heard some awful stories of his past Christmases and Thanksgivings. It was after that conversation in late 2010 that the idea to have a 2^nd Thanksgiving came to mind.  I wanted to try and show him what a good one could look like.

Thanksgiving 2.3

     And so was born . . . THANKSGIVING 2! The very first official occurrence anywhere in the world. We put up the Christmas tree and I had the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on the DVR. The house was all set. I had created this event to be a potluck lunch/dinner event to keep it relatively simple for everyone. I roasted an 18lb turkey, Sean fried a 14lb turkey, my wife made a few pies and everyone else would bring a side dish or dessert. We had about 35 people come that year and everyone participated in the potluck. We had many side dishes and a ton of desserts. Both turkeys were devoured within minutes of them cooling off. The side dishes were all a hit, and the beer and wine disappeared. It was a hit on almost every level. 

                     ::cranky interlude::
High hopes and good intentions sometimes aren't enough. Thank god, this is the only TH2 event that didn't go quite how I wanted it to.Since this was my first foray into organizing a party with this many people, the types of issues that can come up had never occurred to me. Thankfully, we have a forgiving group of friends when one issue arose.
                             ::end crankiness::

     The sole problem reared its head at 6:30pm when the final 2 people arrived. They sat their pie down and then asked where the rest of the food was located. I had to sadly tell them that all we had left were 7 different desserts and collard greens. When I heard those words leave my mouth I knew right then that if there was to be a Thanksgiving 2 again I would have to totally change the set-up. We managed to work thru their dinner of sweets and greens with a smile and everyone had a good time in the end. I asked if everyone would be up for a repeat next year, they said yes.

      It took 3 years to get to what we have now: themed foods,Christmas trees galore, the entry fee, a drink buffet. and a tented backyard. All these things and more make up the modern day Thanksgiving 2. Hopefully, I can continue to make it better as the years roll along.