Wishing you a smothered and covered Thanksgiving (if necessary)

Here’s a hypothetical Thanksgiving scenario: While the turkey’s in the oven your child swishes through the kitchen on his/her skateboard, grabbing a hand towel that was underneath a bowl of mashed potatoes.

As the bowl falls you lunge for it, hip checking the knobs on the stove by accident, turning the heat up on all burners and the oven.

You narrowly miss the potatoes as they crash to the floor and, because you’re busy cleaning the mess, don’t notice that the rest of the food is on fire until the smoke alarm goes off, right about the time your family comes into the kitchen asking when dinner will be ready.

Those of you with children know this could totally happen, so if your kitchen seems cursed tomorrow, think about calling it a day and heading to one of these places where an un-burnt Thanksgiving meal will promptly be served.

Waffle House – open 24 hours
All locations will be open and ready to serve you a Thanksgiving plate both smothered and/or covered – two very good reasons to give thanks.

IHOP – open 24 hours, all locations
Thanksgiving is a traditional American holiday, but every day is a great day for pancakes as far as I’m concerned, even of the international variety.

Ryan’s Grill, Buffet, & Bakery – 10:45 a.m. – 7 p.m., 4260 Dowlen Road, Beaumont
They’ll have turkey, stuffing, pies, etc. – enough for seconds. The best part? Unless you forget your wallet, dish duty's on them.

MCM Elegante’ Hotel – 10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., 2355 IH 10 South, Beaumont
For something a little fancier, head to the Elegante’ for brunch. The word on the street is that, in the past, the chefs have left patrons breathless from both the variety and quantity of food.

There’s probably a few other places that will be open so, if something goes wrong when cooking, adhere to this piece of sage Yankee wisdom: “Fuggetaboutit.”

All will not be lost when something goes wrong, and we’ve all experienced enough holiday-meal-time chaos to know that no menu ever works out exactly like you think it will.

So this year, whether it’s a juicy, golden turkey or a crispy, golden waffle, realize that it’s not what you eat, but who you eat with that matters.

This Thanksgiving, enjoy your family regardless of what else happens.

Then tomorrow, you can ground your child for skateboarding in the house.