A few days ago, my son came into my home office (aka a guest room with an actual computer station – remember those?) with an announcement that I had almost given up hope of ever hearing. My son is thirteen and in that stage of his life where he is growing so fast that he is running out of clothes that fit him before I can order new ones. The other day, he opted to wear a pair of shorts in 48 degree weather since his few pairs of pants that fit were tangled in a pile of dirty apparel on his carpet, yearning for the four walls of the hamper. So it shouldn’t have surprised me when he announced that he had been thinking (such a good pastime) and because he wants to grow to his full potential (after all, his grandfather had been 6’1″) that he wanted to start eating “poultry” again. I could barely contain my glee but managed a suppressed smile while I discussed the implications of this decision with him. Since he specifically said poultry, red meat or other ‘white meats’ like pork were excluded but poultry would also encompass ‘turkey’ which means the turkey leg would be his once more on the most wonderful of holidays that was fast approaching,Thanksgiving. I, of course, told him that I thought he was making a wise decision and gave him a hug of support while the ‘Alleluia’ chorus played in my head. After he left the office, I began to list in my mind all of the ways I could prepare ‘poultry’ like Bubba’s litany of shrimp dishes in Forrest Gump: there’s roast chicken, breadcrumb coated chicken, chicken parmigiana, fried chicken and biscuits, chicken salad, and other poultry like roast capon, roast Long Island duckling, Peking duck, duck a l’orange, Cornish game hens, quail, pheasant, and of course roast turkey. This morning, I prepped the turkey, I can even say I ‘dressed’ the turkey (not in literal fashion like Amelia Bedelia which ironically my pescatarian daughter portrayed at a local library waving around of all things a rubber chicken) by massaging it with butter and olive oil, seasoning in inside and out with fresh spices and herbs still on their stems, filling its cavities with homemade cornbread, chestnut, cranberry, celery and onion stuffing then placing it on a bed of diced root vegetables. This would be the first turkey my son would be tasting in two years and I had to make sure it was so darn delectable that he would never ever revert to pescatarianism. After grace today, my husband asked for the platter on which the turkey legs lay, took one then offered the platter to my son as a dozen of us watched in breathless anticipation. My son grabbed the leg, held it up with a grin, and was met with a table full of nodding smiling faces, even the lone Pescatarian approved. Oh how I wish I had my camera ready! I felt victorious as if I had weathered a battle and won. A Happy, Blessed, and Joyous Thanksgiving to all the Moms (or others) who put together the Thanksgiving feasts and to the families who partake. Mmm, now what to make for Christmas?