Thanksgiving dinner cooking disaster! 2008

Well, another Thanksgiving Day has ended. Our 2 guys were here for dinner, and it was almost like when they were small boys, and still at home. Had to remind myself that they are 32 & 28...but it brought back some very fond memories that had been on a dusty shelf in the back of my brain... a quiet celebration...except for the moment that our turkey, which had been cooking nicely on the grill on the porch, decided to have a major flareup while no one was paying any attention to it.."I thought YOU were watching the grill!!" kind of moment! We snuffed out the flames...grabbed the bird off the grill...and took it into the kitchen...can you just imagine the comments? "It doesn't look that bad, Mom" (my oldest)..."I like stuff burnt, Mom' (my youngest)..."It'll be fine, Hon...all you've got to do is scrap the black stuff off" (my eternal optimist husband)...all I could do was stand there, staring at my charbroiled, blakened beyond recognition 20 lb. turkey, sitting on the lovely platter from Japan...and think "How will the hot dogs in the freezer go with sweet potatoes?" I went to my computer and googled a turkey hotline...they have plenty of advice for an UNDER cooked birds, but precious little for a tukey that has been incinerated! Sooo...went back to the bird, started scrapping off all the black stuff that I could, and amazingly the meat was unharmed...even more amazingly, it tasted really good! Disaster averted...the hot dogs are back in the freezer! :} The rest of the day went beautifully...and ended with a sweet orange sunset over the lake. As my guys were leaving, the youngest says, "That was an awesome dinner, Mom. Can you burn the turkey again next year?" AARRRGGHHHH!!!!! Happy Thanksgiving all...*elaine*