Nine people, one bathroom, one oven, 1,150 square feet and an 18-pound turkey from Meijer that took up most of our refrigerator for five days. That was our first Thanksgiving as hosts, and the first time both of our families had squeezed into the Cape at once.
The guest list: me and Tessa, my parents, my sister Erin, who drove in from Chicago on Wednesday night, Tessa's parents Rick and Diane, and her brother Josh with his girlfriend Kayla. Our living room holds the two of us and Moose comfortably. We had to plan.
Where everyone sat
We don't have a dining room. We have a kitchen table that seats four on a good day and a living room with a picture window. So the kitchen table got carried into the living room and pushed against the card table we borrowed from my parents. The card table is about two inches lower, so Tessa folded a bath towel under the tablecloth at the seam, and nobody noticed until Josh leaned on it during pie.
Chairs came from everywhere. Our four kitchen chairs, plus five folding chairs from Gary, who has a stack of them in his garage for exactly this situation and walked them over on Wednesday night without being asked. The couch got pushed back against the window to open up the floor. Coats went on the bed in the office, which has been our guest room since August and where Erin slept.
One oven and a spreadsheet
Yes, I made a spreadsheet. One oven means everything is a scheduling problem, and scheduling problems are the one thing I'm actually trained for.
The turkey moved from the freezer to the fridge on Saturday to thaw. On Thursday it went into the oven at 10:30 at 325 degrees and came out a little after 2:30 when the thigh read right. While it rested under foil for 45 minutes, the oven turned over to the stuffing, the green bean casserole and the rolls. My mom brought mashed potatoes in her slow cooker, and Diane brought two pies, which saved us from needing the oven again after dinner.
The one thing I thought about in advance was the electrical side. Our panel is a 100-amp from the late 1980s, and I didn't want a slow cooker, the range and the coffee maker all fighting on one kitchen circuit. So the slow cooker went on the counter but plugged into the living room circuit with an extension cord taped down along the floor. Nothing tripped. I checked the panel twice anyway.
My mistake was the refrigerator. I'd planned the oven to the minute and forgot about cold space. By Thursday morning the fridge was full of turkey, cream, butter and everyone's contributions, and there was nowhere for the drinks. The solution was the detached garage, which at 30 degrees outside works as a 12-by-20 refrigerator. Tessa called it "the walk-in." The beer was perfect.
The water heater earned its keep
Two weeks earlier our old water heater had leaked all over the basement, and we'd replaced it on a Friday for $1,780. Thanksgiving was its first real test. Erin and Tessa showered that morning, and after dinner we ran the dishwasher twice and filled the sink for the roasting pan and every pot we own. It never ran cold. Rick, who heard the whole water heater story in detail, went downstairs to look at it and came back up and said, "Nice tank." Coming from Rick, that's a compliment.
One bathroom for nine people went better than I expected. The line never got longer than two people, which I'm counting as a design win for 1952.
Moose spent the day lying in the kitchen doorway, exactly where everyone had to step over him, watching the oven like it might owe him something. My dad slipped him one piece of plain white meat, which he denies.
The house got warm. With nine people and the oven going all afternoon, the living room hit 73 while the furnace sat idle, so I bumped the thermostat down and cracked the front window for an hour. Everyone left by 8.
Gary's chairs went back Saturday morning, folded and wiped down, with a plate of leftovers balanced on top. Linda sent the plate back on Sunday with cookies on it, so as far as I can tell, the loan is still open.
