Do You Know What Burnt Baking Soda Smells Like?

The best way to return from Thanksgiving weekend is with pictures and a pile of leftovers. Pictures I've got. Leftovers... a little less this year, but with good reason - we had more family around the table. My grandparents stopped through here on their yearly migration to Florida. It meant taking the bumpy 95 South, but sacrifice they did. And we were blessed by their presence. My sister and brother-in-law made it home for Thanksgiving for the first time in several years - thanks to a break in pediatric resident rotations. And to round out the table, my brother and his fiancee. All together, we numbered 12 this year. That warranted a fully extended dinner table, turned sideways and stretching into the hallway.

The highlight of this year's holiday, however, will probably be the flames. The ones in the oven. Under the turkey. None who witnessed them will ever forget the year the turkey caused a fire in the oven. I don't mean a lot of smoke. I mean a fire. With big orange flames that threatened to consume our precious dinner. In what seemed like slow motion, mom located the baking soda in the cupboard and tossed it across the kitchen to dad. Carefully, he pulled down the door and doused the fire. A closer look revealed that the entire roasting pan had filled with liquid and spilled over - causing a grease fire. After the juices had been poured, the turkey went back in the oven to finish cooking. (Side note: When it was pulled out to carve, the pan was completely full again!)

And so we all smelled like burnt baking soda for the rest of the day.

I wasn't quick enough with the camera to document the flames. But I did get a shot of the evidence. (Blogger is automatically rotating this picture with the upload. ??)

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Daniel with Nana, playing cards


Below are Michael's completely unsuccessful attempts to get a picture of the kids with their great-grandparents.