My own take on Thanksgiving

Weather forecasts for this past week were for snow stretching from where I am all the way down to way my other half lives. So for the first time in a number of years, I did not get to spend Thanksgiving there. This is slightly depressing, since I now haven't seen him since August. (Long distance relationships suck.) A small upside is that I have been able to catch up on my sleep, since I didn't have to make two long drives.

But what to do about Thanksgiving? As it turns out, I made a very traditional Thanksgiving dinner for myself. At least on the surface. My menu:

• Turkey, dressing, gravy, corn, mashed potatoes: The contents of a frozen TV turkey dinner. (I would have skipped the corn and mashed potatoes if they hadn't been included.)
• A can of cranberry sauce: It was given me in a box of food my partner was getting rid of when he moved about four years ago, but it was still perfectly good. (How often would I otherwise eat cranberries?)
• Salad with shiitake mushroom dressing: The salad and dressing were both in the 'fridge. The dressing was technically expired, but seemed fine.
• Green been/mushroom casserole: The one thing I actually made, because it's one of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes. And it's not like there's anything hard about making it.
• Relish options included sliced pickles (left over from hamburgers in late summer), a jar of peppers (from the same box that I salvaged the cranberry sauce from), and a jar of olives (found in the 'fridge; I'd forgotten it was there).
• Pre-made apple pie I picked up from the grocery because, hey, apple pie.
• Coke Zero. (This at least actually is pretty traditional for me.)

The whole thing left me laughing off and on during the holiday, but to be honest, there wasn't really much to give away how faked the dinner was. I now know how to fool people if I ever have to host Thanksgiving.