Why Pot Lucks Are Fun

 Of course there's the obvious point that the host(ess) doesn't have to buy and cook everything. And you never can know in advance how the people will behave- or not - so I'm taking that out of the discussion, even though everybody had a good time for Thanksgiving One this year. FYI Thanksgiving Two is tomorrow, since different people have different schedules and other sets of family to share the holiday with. We took that into account and offered our guests a choice between Thursday and Saturday... and stocked up on 4 turkeys because we're doing a repeat double-down for Christmas. (Thawing two birds at once in the same standard size fridge is... interesting.)

The real fun part is the variety of the food. We provided a roast turkey and stuffing, which in this house means stuffing muffins, making them very handy for pot lucks, whether held here or taken to somebody else's house. Our guests filled the meal in beautifully. There were mashed potatoes and gravy, made in our kitchen by one guest while the turkey cooled enough to carve, rather than being made hours earlier and reheated. There were two salads, one with cranberries and mini marshmallows, another with cabbage and apples and other things. That was a hit as well, especially with Steve, since he's had a problem being able to eat fresh apples for many years, but these were marinated, softening them just enough for him. Everybody brought their own beverages of choice, and we supplied cups and ice.

The really fun part of pot luck food is whatever comes in large quantities, not what manages to fill in all the need for variety. This year it was pies. Between snowy weather, and somebody being "under it", and somebody else having a sudden family emergency to deal with, we wound up with 8 people this time. And five pies! There was an apple pie, a peanut butter silk (OMG YUMMY!) which I'd never heard of, much less tasted until then, and three pumpkin, one of which was heavily spiced just the way I love mine, while the other two were lightly spiced.  Some, like me, had a sliver of more than one variety. I had actually picked up some cinnamon ice cream for the freezer "just in case" nobody brought desert, or people wanted some on top of their pie. Turned out the pies were so good nobody even remembered to get the ice cream out, so that's still there "just in  case" for tomorrow's meal.

Advance info hints on several (varieties of?) cranberries on that menu.