Thanksgiving Dinner on Space Shuttle Endeavour

HOUSTON (AP) -- The smoked turkey resembles sliced deli meat but stiffer, the candied yams are bland inside, the green beans taste like they've been microwaved to death and the corn bread stuffing has a broth-heavy, institutional flavor.
Grandma's home cooking, it's not.

Then again, Grandma's Thanksgiving dinners were never irradiated, freeze-dried, vacuum-packed into plastic pouches and then launched into space to be served 220 miles above Earth. That's what the Turkey Day meals for the astronauts aboard space shuttle Endeavour have endured.

Endeavour's seven astronauts and the three crew members at the international space station will take a break from their chores and gather for their special meal Thanksgiving Day. The last time a space shuttle crew ate their holiday meal in space was six years ago.

"It gives us a moment to pause and reflect just how fortunate we are as a country and as global community," said Endeavour commander Christopher Ferguson from the space station. "We're thankful for that, in addition to the opportunity to fly in space."

Although there were only six Thanksgiving meals prepared, Ferguson said not to worry. They were scraping together turkey from the space station pantry so everyone could experience space's version of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, including the lone Russian, space station cosmonaut, Yuri Lonchakov.

You don't have to be in space to eat dried out turkey and bland yams and green beans microwaved to death.

I've had some bad Thanksgiving dinners. One in particular stands out in my mind. (No, I wasn't the cook.)

But Thanksgiving really isn't about the food. It's about gathering with family and friends. It's about being together and giving thanks for our many blessings.

While I love preparing and eating our family's traditional Thanksgiving dinner, I love spending the holiday with my family even more.

It's bittersweet though. I still terribly miss family members who are no longer at the table.

Be thankful for just being together. Nothing is more precious than that.