Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

QUESTION: What type of food should you prepare for the Thanksgiving Holiday? ANSWER: You should cook potatoes with gravy. Specifically, mashed potatoes and turkey gravy. This food combo is considered extremely festive. It will make a full person of whoever eats it. 

Now, when you pour the gravy on the taters, you might find that the former spills down the sides of the latter and makes a pool on the plate. You might not want this result: You might prefer to have the gravy remain only on the taters and not touch the plate. If this is your wish, you should use a large spoon to hollow out a bed at the top of the taters; then pour the gravy into this bed, and be careful to avoid overfilling. This way, the gravy will stay within the taters, and your plate will remain virgin-pure: The gravy will not flow down the sides of the taters and ooze all over everything. 

Do this every time you eat mashed potatoes, OK? Sculpt the taters into a volcano shape. And have faith that the gravy is extraterrestrial father-stuff.