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Dear Aunty Pam,

 

I’m hoping you’ll answer before Thursday!

My mother-in-law is hosting Thanksgiving again this year. She cooks very ‘southern’ and I don’t. So my 12-yr-old son is used to my cooking and he hates the way his grandmother cooks. He says all the vegetables are mushy and she puts greasy ham in the green beans. He’s right.

Last year I took a small pizza for him to eat and my sister-in-law glared at me like I’d just run over her cat. This year, she just texted me saying she hoped I wasn’t bringing another pizza because it really hurt her mother’s feelings. My husband said he’s staying out of it. I think it’s ridiculous to expect a 12-year-old to eat food he hates in what’s supposed to be a holiday gathering.

Thoughts?

 

Miffed Mom

 

Dear Mom,

 

Great Jello Salad, woman! To take a pizza to a meal that someone has slaved over (as well as buying the food, cleaning and setting the table) is, to Aunty Pam, the height of rudeness.

Unless your son has food allergies and physically can’t eat what is prepared differently, there is no reason he can’t be expected, at the age of 12, to suck it up once a year and eat Meemaw’s greasy beans. It’s a life lesson, for Pete’s sake. A lesson in respecting the effort made by others to do something nice.

Surely there will be things he will eat: mashed potatoes? Stuffing? Turkey and cranberry sauce? Just tell him to eat a lot of that and you can praise him all the way home for behaving so well.

And then take him to Chucky Cheese.

 

Cheers, dear!!

Aunty Pam