The Christmas Eve turkey fiasco, forcing us to gobble, gobble before 7 p.m. church, actually turned out OK. I got some extra meat and I’ll throw it into a pot of soup tonight.I always make my mom a jar of turkey soup fixings and give it to her so she can use up her Christmas turkey. I had some ingredients leftover — barley, split peas, rice, bouillon, dried onion flakes. I’ll just dump them in a pot.

My only real turkey regret was that I simply didn’t have time to boil the carcass. After a full day of cooking, I just ran out of steam. About 11 p.m., after removing the extra meat, I stared at it for a minute and then admitted defeat. There was no way I was staying up until 2 a.m. to make turkey stock. Wasn’t going to happen. I just said farewell to the carcass and moved on with my life. John and I finished our Santa duties and hit the sack, knowing we’d be awoken dark and early by a 5-year-old who wanted his new train.

(Come to think of it now, I should have just chucked the carcass in the freezer. Dag. I guess my brain was tired, too.)

This morning, I made my new favorite holiday leftover meal, layering turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans and stuffing in one of those reusable plastic tubs. I did it after Thanksgiving and it was great to just pop the container into the nuker for a minute or so and dig in, like eating lasagna.

Of course, I left the container on the counter this morning instead of bringing it to work, but at least I tried. McDonald’s came through with a Southwest Salad, and there’s always tomorrow.