I really love your take on Thanksgiving — just plain funny! I love the idea of dressing up as Orthodox (Hasidic) Jews; do you remember the scene in Annie Hall (I think that’s the one) where the hero, at the table with all white-bread people, has a vision of their vision of himself as a Hasid?

I am blowing off my family this year. I usually do, by going to visit someone out of town. But this year I am going to cook for my spouse and myself, bring some of it to my Mom on Friday, put some in the freezer for sandwiches, and donate the rest to the local homeless shelter. I refuse to eat myself sick. I have memories of doing that as a child: I would lie on my bed wiggling a finger to work it off. There wasn’t TV in those days, so nobody was watching football.

As long as I stick to apple pie (not pumpkin, which is a big deal), baked potatoes, yams, acorn squash, and turkey, it all goes in the oven. Something green can be salad in a bag.