Joyce and I both grew up with traditional family Thanksgiving dinners: turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, veggies and pumpkin pie for dessert.

But what do you do when family is scattered across two states and most of them work in professions that require their services on holidays?

The earliest most of them could make it to Rhode Island was 7 p.m., long after most restaurants serving turkey dinners had washed their final pots and pans and put the closed sign on their doors.

Where can 10 of us gather at that time of night?

Who has an oven or dining room big enough to accommodate everyone?

Who wants to cook, anyways?

The answer was a no-brainer. We all love Chinese food, and our favorite restaurant is Lemongrass.

There wasn’t any turkey on the menu, but with the price of turkey these days, we could buy a couple and freeze them for another time. Chinese food is good any time, even on Thanksgiving.

We made reservations for their big table of 10, and all met at the restaurant, which, as expected wasn’t too crowded, although the take-out counter was still busy.

After devouring their famous Nim Chow, fried dumplings, crispy pork, shrimp pad Thai and other non-turkey dishes, we read each other our fortune cookies, wished everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, and went our separate ways.