Traditions Come and Go

Today is Thanksgiving, Happy Thanksgiving! I was planning on joining my sister's husband's family with my kids as we have over the past 2 years, but things didn't work out. Since my plans were changed this morning at 7am I didn't have time to cook turkey. I just stayed home alone (if I can be alone with 2 cats) and watched football and thanksgiving specials on TV. My day was nice. In the past when my kids didn't come over at all I would cook a turkey for myself and then eat leftovers for a long time. It was funny that one of the things everyone looked forward to was my turkey soup. For many years I have bought 4 turkeys before Thanksgiving. I originally started this because my freezer was always empty. I had read that a full freezer used less electricity than a full one, so I figured if turkeys were only $5 each during Thanksgiving it would make sense to fill up my freezer with frozen turkey. I at one then put three in my freezer. I had one around Christmas time, one in the spring and one in the summer. It was funny because I often forgot to eat the last one until a few weeks before Thanksgiving, so I had to cook the last one to make room for the next year's turkeys. It got to be a habit ... or was it a tradition? Everyone that knows me has heard of my little tradition. I would have turkey at the strangest times of the year. Fourth of July turkey dinner. Turkey for my birthday. Valentine's Day turkey. My youngest daughter got to the point of asking me when I was going to make soup yet. She would tell her friends that I made the best soup, and she would always want more. It made me feel special. I started making chicken soup, using the same spices to make it taste like turkey... that is a little funny, making the chicken soup taste like turkey soup! I have been doing this for 6 or 7 years. Even when I didn't eat at my house for Thanksgiving these past two years I bought 3 turkeys just to put in my freezer. This year was different. I went to buy the turkeys and found out the price has gone up, from $5 to $8. This is still cheap compared to $30 which is the normal price. But, it lost its spirit this year. So, the tradition is over. This year I had peanut butter and jelly for Thanksgiving dinner because I hadn't had enough notice to buy a turkey and thaw it for the 3 days before Thanksgiving. I wonder if I have just stated a new tradition, back to being alone for Thanksgiving and now eating peanut butter and jelly.