School Thanksgiving Luncheon

So...no lunch boxes today, I'm afraid. It was Fancy's school's annual Thanksgiving Luncheon and Fancy and I bought the lunch.

I appreciate the sentiment. I appreciate the invitation. But the food? It's horrible. Here's a picture of my tray of food. It was $5.00, by the way.

Turkey (admittedly moist and normal). Cornbread dressing that had the consistency of grainy pudding. Yellow gravy. Green beans that tasted nothing -- NOTHING-- like green beans. An orange with quite a bit of it still green. Mashed (overcooked?) sweet potato. Very bitter cranberry sauce. Dinner roll. Strawberry milk.

I couldn't eat most of this food. And, no surprise, Fancy ate only her dinner roll, mashed potato (the parents didn't get mashed potato), and the inside of a few green beans. She drank her vanilla milk and half of my strawberry milk.

Let's look at the positives:

1. This was an opportunity for parents to come in and share a school meal with their children. Not all parents realize that we're welcome to join our children at any meal, any time. I try to join Fancy once a week. Meal sharing is an important part of being a human. It draws us together. This is a good opportunity for bonding.
2. There are lots of colors: maroon, yellow, white, green, orange. Colors are good!
3. The foods are traditional family Thanksgiving foods. They tried.
4. Those lovely women who work in my daughter's cafeteria worked really hard to make this happen. They don't cook the food, but their work loads tripled today. Instead of serving 300+ children, they served all of those plus their parents. Thank your cafeteria workers. They deserve some praise. It is NOT their fault the system is flawed. Remember those lovely ladies at holidays and year's end.

I'm thankful that the meal is done and I won't be subjected to it for another year. And next year, if we're still stationed here, I'll go, and I'll buy a plate of food. And I'll nibble. Because there are other important messages in play: sharing a meal with my daughter is the most important.