Friday, November 27, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving from the pie girl




Happy Thanksgiving a day late. I hope everyone has as wonderful a Thanksgiving as my family and I did. Thanksgiving is absolutely, hands-down, my favorite holiday. It may have strayed from it's original meaning or be nothing about that "first Thanksgiving" but for me it's about being thankful. It's all in the name, right? I love the tradition of it. Here's how our day goes:
I get up, turn the tv to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and start the pies. It was five this year. Two pumpkin (steamed the pumpkins the day before), two apple/cranberry, and one pecan. Tom gets up a bit later and helps me. We make fun of the made up dog breeds on the dog show following the parade, and then we pack up and head off to my parents house, only about five blocks away. This year we had 16 at the table. It was a wonderful mix of family and friends, new and old. We have the standard 8-10 that are always there, but we try to always have some "strangers" or "Thanksgiving orphans" at the table. My mom loves inviting people who have no where else to go and treating them to a wonderful meal and a special day. I love it that I can invite anyone and everyone I want and I know my mom will welcome them with open arms and be genuinely happy that they are there.
After we gorge ourselves on turkey and stuffing and potatoes and cranberry sauce and the-best-rolls-ever (Haley licked and extra one this year so no one would steal it from her!) and Karen's to-die-for corn casserole and fruit salad and pies and pumpkin cheesecake (who knew Isaac could cook!?!?) with fresh whipped mexican vanilla whipped cream (oh my lord)...well, you would think we would all slip into a food coma. But no, we rally the troupes and play charades. We've been doing this same thing for years and I love it! This year my best friend and her husband, kids, mom and dad came for the evening and the charades got a little more competitive than in years past but it was oh so fun! Let me just brag for a moment and say that I acted out the last and winning thing which was, ahem, "Get your biscuits in the oven and your buns in the bed" - Thank you Lloyd for writing that down! How I got my team to guess that in the one minute allotted time I will never know. I had never even heard of it but apparently it's a Kinky Freidman song. Who knew?
And last but certainly not least, Preacher is continuing to do well. He's not 100% yet, but he's still getting up and down pretty well, wagging his nub, and walking on his own. So we are cautiously optimistic that he is on the mend.
Happy end of November everyone. Hope it was a good one.