Holidays are exciting! Family and friends gather to visit, watch football, play a few games, drink favorite beverages, and sometimes struggle to put the thousand piece puzzle together before departure time arrives.

But for myself my favorite time of the holiday gathering occurs after the hugs and good-byes have been exchanged. As the last vehicle pulls out of the driveway and even though I’m still mildly stuffed from the amazing celebratory meal I sneak out into the kitchen and instead of a whole piece of pumpkin pie I show restraint and snack on a half slice instead skipping the whipped cream. 🙂

I love leftovers!  The two or three days after the holiday there is no need to ask, “What shall we have for lunch?” Actually that can include breakfast and dinner too.

The food groups are no longer important during these several days. There is no need to balance out carbohydrates, proteins, or fats. The food pyramid goes out the window and in fact is not even considered.

My ‘leftover’ enjoyment began many years ago when I was a child growing up on our family farm. It grew into a habit as Kathie and I raised our three children to adulthood and hosted holiday celebrations over those years.

Then the lean years arrived. As our children married and began families of their own the sites of the holiday celebrations began to change. Our small house was unsuitable for such festivities unless we lined our front yard with R.V.s to make sleeping quarters for the increasing family population.

So our children, now adults, had larger homes which became the sites for the holiday gatherings. That meant after each holiday I would go home to a house devoid of leftovers! That was hard on me emotionally however very good for my waist line!:)

As the years and holiday celebrations rolled on I would occasionally dream about those ‘leftover’ years and miss those couple of post-holiday days filled with a hodgepodge of foods.

Then the miracle happened! As we were preparing to leave a holiday celebration our favorite daughter-in-law remarked, “Our family doesn’t like leftovers. No one will eat them.” Actually she is our only daughter-in-law but after those comments even if she was one of six daughter-in-laws she would still have been my favorite! 🙂

Of course I opened my mouth immediately and expressed my deep love for leftovers. The leftover drought came to a sudden end. Now when we are leaving our favorite daughter-in-laws home we leave with containers of leftovers!

Life is good although the food pyramid continues to grumble.

Last week as Kathie and I prepared to exit our son and daughter-in-laws’ home stuffed with turkey, ham and all the trimmings there was no mention of sending along a care package of leftovers.

Of course being the polite father-in-law I didn’t say anything as other guests were interacting with our son and daughter-in-law in conversation at the time.

Consequently as we began the trip homeward I began missing my normal upcoming week of leftover meals.

And then this blog’s second miracle occurred. Kathie had forgotten to bring a plate of cookies the girls and women had made during the afternoon as the men watched football. You know the kind with the chocolate kiss in the middle of each cookie.

We had just arrived at our house when a vehicle pulled into our yard and Kathie’s brothers who had also been at the Thanksgiving gathering stepped out of the vehicle with Kathie’s forgotten cookies.

But the story gets even more exciting as the real miracle took place next. Along with the plate of cookies was a cardboard box filled with containers of leftovers; stuffing, turkey, coleslaw, buns, fruit salad and one completely untouched pumpkin pie? Thank you, Sara, thank you! 🙂

Could it get any better? Well as a matter of fact, yes.

One of my earlier blogs describes my love for cranberries and it seems I am the only member of my family that savors their sweet, tart taste. So it is not unusual at holiday celebrations that cranberries are left off the menu. Well as I opened one of the containers what did I find? You guessed it, cranberries!

My Thanksgiving celebration was officially complete. 🙂

So as I sit here pounding out this ‘leftovers’ blog I am several pounds heavier then I was a week ago but what an enjoyable week it was not having to plan meals. We just opened those containers of food and dug in.

It was fun getting reacquainted with leftovers this Thanksgiving and don’t forget there are still more holidays to come.

Now I need to reacquaint myself with something else…..my stationary bike!

I think I may go make myself a turkey sandwich first, however. 🙂

Until next time.