Hello Readers, thank you for dropping by. Don't forget that while you're reading this true story to count the number of times I've used the word that means 'blunder' or 'disaster' then in the comments section tell me the name of the word and the number of times I've used it in the story. Happy Reading! A drawing will be held and the winner announced at 7:00 PM tonight.
My family has always enjoyed camping. Our only
modern convenience was a two burner propane camp stove and a tarpaulin
stretched over a fold-up table. Several years ago, we decided a Thanksgiving
campout would be fun. What we didn’t figure on were the ‘oops’ that would
happen.
Cooking a Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, dressing,
gravy, pumpkin pie and all the other goodies would take a lot of prep time and
hours of cooking over an open fire. When I read an ad in the paper that a local
grocery store was offering fully prepared Thanksgiving dinners, I had an
‘ah-ha’ moment. I could feed five people for less than $35.00.
The afternoon before Thanksgiving we picked up our
packaged dinner. This is when the ‘ oops’ began. You see I, nor my sister, or
daughter had ever bought a pre-cooked Thanksgiving meal. We thought thaw, heat,
and eat. Right? Wrong! Oops!
We arrived at the campground late in the afternoon,
set up our tent. Lo and behold, our daughter and teenage grandson had forgotten
their tent. My sister had her pup tent. There was enough room for our daughter
and grandson in our tent, but they’d have to sleep on the floor. Oops!
It rained that night. The temperature dropped
leaving the tent floor cold and damp. Daughter and grandson dashed to their
truck. Sister’s tent leaked. She scurried to her car. Oops and Oops! Have you
ever needed to really go to the bathroom it’s after midnight and pouring rain
and the campground outhouses are a long way from your tent? Ooops!
Thanksgiving morning was cold and wet. Brrr! We
figured if the pilgrims could do it so could we. Sister, daughter and I opened
the box that held our store bought dinner only to discover that it wasn’t heat
and serve. Nope! Hmm, the oops were stacking up. The dressing was thoroughly
mixed, but needed to be baked. The turkey was sliced, precooked and nestled in frozen
gravy; the green beans and cranberry sauce were in cans, yay. The pumpkin pie
was unbaked and frozen. Oops! What would the pilgrims do?
We set out on a wood gathering adventure. Have I mentioned that we were shivering cold? The thing is we never considered packing up and going home. If the pilgrims could celebrate Thanksgiving without the conveniences of electricity and modern kitchens, then so could we. The wood was wet and wouldn’t light—oops. It began misting rain—big oops. Hubby siphoned a bit of gas from our car to pour over the wood. WooHoo! We had a campfire and warmth.
We women doubled wrapped the turkey and gravy, and
the pie in aluminum foil. As soon as we had enough hot ashes, hubby and
grandson dug a hole and set the foiled packages inside, then covered them with
ashes. Then they bunched a small fire. Thanks goodness for my trusty iron skillet
which was perfect for cooking the dressing over the camp stove. While waiting
for our Thanksgiving dinner to cook, we sat around the campfire and dined on
peanut butter and banana sandwiches and hot chocolate. By six o’clock that
evening and by lantern light we enjoyed a fully cooked Thanksgiving meal with
all the trimmings. In spite of all the oops, that campout remains our most
favorite Thanksgiving of all time.
Don’t
forget to post your answers below in the comments box.
LORETTA
C. ROGERS
