The Best and Easiest Cranberry Sauce Ever!

Do you remember that scene in the movie ‘A Christmas Story’ where the neighbors crazy dogs somehow manage to get into the kitchen and totally destroy the Thanksgiving meal? The family stands there in shock as their turkey dreams are shattered along with all of the visions of leftovers.

“The heavenly aroma still hung in the house. But it was gone, all gone! No turkey! No turkey sandwiches! No turkey salad! No turkey gravy! Turkey Hash! Turkey a la King! Or gallons of turkey soup! Gone, ALL GONE!”

The turkey is obviously the centerpiece of the Thanksgiving feast. But for some of us, it’s merely the gateway to the other parts of the meal.

Stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, freshly baked rolls. The turkey almost begins to disappear as our plates get filled up with these so-called ‘side’ dishes. And then maybe, just maybe, you’ll add a little dollop of cranberry sauce.

But for me, well, the cranberry sauce is the star of my Thanksgiving plate show!

You see, I don’t like gravy. I just find it so very….ummm…gravy-ish.

I’ll take turkey and mashed potatoes covered in cranberry sauce over gravy any day! In fact, I’ll take cranberry sauce covered on a lot of things. With pita chips? Crunchtastic! With a slice of pepper jack cheese? Spice-a-licious! Slathered on a slice of toast? Warm-fuzzy-ish!

A spoonful in the middle of the night? Oh, I wouldn’t know what that would be like because I would never, ever do that! 😉

I think it only proves how amazing cranberry sauce is that while they’re being cooked it sounds like tiny little fireworks going off as those cranberries pop open. It’s a celebration in a pot!

And when you add white wine, sugar and oranges to the mix you can no longer relegate it to simple ‘condiment’ status.

When I first saw the movie ‘A Christmas Story’ I was around 10 years old. I remember Heather and I literally rolling around on the floor laughing hysterically as a little brother got stuffed in a snow suit reminiscent of ‘deep sea diving’, a friend stuck his tongue to a flag pole, a little boy blurted out the wrong toy as he sat on Santa’s lap and then how his dreams came true in the form of a Red Ryder BB gun. And, at that age, I only related to that little boy and all of his Christmas mis-adventures.

Now though, well now I watch that movie through the lens of parenthood. My heart goes out to that weary mom trying in vain to get her kids to eat dinner and worrying about her son shooting his eye out with a BB gun. I feel sympathy for that dad who just wants to get the Christmas tree home without catastrophe…or his son using the ‘F dash-dash-dash word’. 😉

I completely understand waiting all year long for your most favorite part of the holiday meal. And I cannot imagine how it would feel to see a herd of mangy dogs destroy it all in a matter of seconds.

At least in my house, the only danger to the cranberry sauce is…well…me!

Happy, happy Thanksgiving to you sweet friends! We pray it is a blessed day for you and yours!