Just a week after George Lenarz got married, his new wife, Mary Kay, dropped this bomb on him: Her family has a long-standing Thanksgiving tradition of having dinner at the Grand Casino Hinckley buffet.
"I was livid," George, of St. Paul, recalled of his reaction five years ago. "I said, 'You've got to be kidding me! What about leftovers? What about my favorite green bean casserole with the onion thingys? What about having the house smelling like turkey?'"
Thanksgiving dinner at a casino would force George, 58, to come face-to-face with three things he loathed: gambling, smoking and waiting.
Yet he begrudgingly accompanied his wife, passing a line of slot machines occupied by smokers and finally joining "a ton of people waiting for a half-hour" to be seated in the restaurant.
Finally, George grabbed his first plate.
"I learned awhile ago that big kids can eat dessert first, so I found a cream something-or-another [cheesecake] with a cherry on top," he said. "I love starting my meal like that."
Then he laid eyes on the rest of the buffet.
"Oh my. There was prime rib and steak and anything you wanted to eat and any nationality," he said. "I was in heaven, and decided I wasn't angry anymore."
