TuRkEyS ShOuLd MaKe YoU gAbbLe, GabbLe

I am morally opposed to disproportionate meals. Maybe it's the effect of growing up around a bazillion Italians where it's "eat, eat. talk, talk. EAT, EAT!" Or maybe it's the seemingly deflated ending to such a long climax. Either way, there is one aspect of Thanksgiving that is fast becoming a pet peeve, and that is meal length in proportion to prep time.

True, we can blame part of this quick engorging on the fact that there are multiple little critters under the age six around the table and they 1) eat quickly and 2) have a short attention span, but it just really chafes me that a meal takes literally two days to prepare (5+ for the bird alone) and only twenty minutes to eat! Am I the only one who thinks it should be more like 2 hours? Can we rise against this?! Maybe turkey feasting shouldn't make you gabble in the literal sense of the word, but it sure should give the gift of gab. Thanksgiving meals should give people a chance to tell that lame joke, remember old times, discuss current events... not hurry to watch the football game. Stop. Enjoy the [multiple] moment[s].

If not, is the prep time really worth it? Baking pie crusts, making pie fillings, drying the bread for stuffing, cooking the cranberry sauce, pealing the sweet potatoes, pealing the mashed potatoes, grilling the veggies... dethawing the bird, stuffing the bird, cooking the bird, carving the bird. Oye already! Don't get me wrong, I love the food, I just want to figure out a way to get that added mileage out of this perfectly prepared meal and the people gathered to eat it.

Perhaps we should institute a rule that for every minute spent preparing (we can leave out bake/cook time) you should spend two minutes enjoying it? I look at the the breakfast of German pancakes I had later that week and I think, we spent 1/25th of the time preparing it and a lot more time (proportionally) enjoying it.

5 minutes to combine eggs, flour and salt

20 minutes to cook

2 seconds to get the toppings

1 minutes oogling delicious breakfast

15 minutes savoring (i said it's hard with young ones)

5 more minutes making another batch

20 more minutes baking...

meanwhile, impromptu dance party to pass the time

Then another 15 minutes to enjoy the glorious pancakes.

And as far as I know, I didn't see anyone doing this after our Thanksgiving feast!
Perhaps licking the plate should also be requisite.