Our Thanksgivings have been very traditional, and continue to be this year as well per a specific request from Daughter who really really wanted us to do the whole thing one more time.
So we agreed.
My friend KS and her fam were on the beach last year at a mini family reunion. They all rented a big place, then made a turkey dinner, then played on the beach. Bikinis and turkey? Not really designed to go together, but they made it work, and it turned out to be their best Thanksgiving ever.
Hubby and I have been yearning for that type of experience, and will most likely work toward that next year. A house, on the beach, cooking a nice but simpler feast, then hanging out on the beach afterwards. We'll import both of our offspring and simply enjoy the gathering as a smaller unit, on our terms.
But this year we're going traditional.
What that looks like?
Dinner at our house. We invite fam and any friends who'd like to join us.
I get up very early to prepare the bird, then pop it in the oven. I usually make a nice breakfast after that, which we enjoy as we continue the prep work and generally bonding. We really enjoy this stuff, and just allow the day to wrap around us and soothe us with delicious aromas, sensations and a deep sense of love and family.
Then our guests arrive, and all hell usually breaks loose within moments.
I'm not saying we have a difficult family. That would be a gross understatement.
What we have, in fact, is more complex than that.
We have a group of very intelligent, highly sensitive, artistically gifted, generally angst ridden relatives that manage to spin darkness from sunlit silk. Every.single.time.
The kids, who are now pre-teens and teens, are awesome. They're helpful and funny and like to play games and just be...which is cool, since adult idiocy that involves significant darkness is exhausting and boring after so many years.
The kids have learned to ignore the stupidity, and I'm taking lessons from them. Enough already.
Our cast of characters includes MIL, Grandma Gin, SIL, BIL, nieces, Daughter's BF, Hubby's buddy of many years, GR, (if he indeed chooses our festivities over another family's...he wavers from year to year and we're still not sure what tips the scales in our favor when he joins us...), possibly my crazy aunt (who once showed up bearing a huge Costco pumpkin pie conspicuously missing a slice, which, apparently, she had eaten for breakfast....and who always brings her own Ziplocs for easy leftover takeaway) and her crazier spawn daughter, and some neighbors who drop by later in the day for some cider or a glass of wine.
I'm determined to be cheerful and happy. My girl is home, my life is good, and I'm thankful for a million things in my life that I'm only beginning to recognize as blessings and count on a daily basis.
I dare you, oh family of deep intellect, little humor and gray thoughts, to push me out of my happy place. I will whack you with a big wooden spoon if you come into my kitchen with your dark clouds shedding ANY raindrops of acid this year. Be warned.
Onward. To the food.
Menu includes:
Organic Turkey, rubbed with fresh herbs, olive oil and spices. Stuffed with simple sage stuffing, then roasted to perfection. MIL insists on ordering this well in advance, then bringing it by later today. Every year. Gotta love that woman.
Stuffing. In the bird and a separate casserole dish.
Twice Baked Potatoes. MIL's signature dish, and requested by Daughter.
Yams topped with crushed pecans. Brought by SIL and fam.
Bread. Baked by Hubby.
Gravy. Me. Herb, simple.
Garlic Green Beans. Me. Sauteed with a little chopped garlic, EVOO, then finished with a little lemon zest, sea salt and crushed pepper.
Cranberry Sauce. Whole berry. Me.
Fresh Cranberry Relish. Me.
Pumpkin Pie. Daughter.
Chocolate Cheesecake. Daughter and me.
Wine. Us, and whoever wishes to bring more.
Apple Cider.
Oh, and Grandma, who's 90, insists on driving herself since we're hosting this earlier in the day. She says as long as it's light outside she'll be fine. And apparently she's recently upgraded her walker to a lighter weight model that's easier for her to get in and out of the car...
And for what it's worth? The first time I ever saw a Toyota Camry jump a median, bounce back into the right lane then proceed as if nothing odd had transpired? My little Grandma was at the helm, and my Great Aunt Julia was with her, on the way to meet me at Black Angus for lunch. Seriously. She wheeled up to where I was waiting in the parking lot (I was gasping, recovering from the adrenaline rush which accompanied witnessing said median jump/recovery), and never even acknowledged what had happened. Just got out of the car, sauntered over to Julia's side and pretended like she hadn't just endangered at least eight people within the last 90 seconds.
Ok, Grandma, well, in order to protect the general population of our fair city, we're going to provide limo service (ala my Nissan Altima). As always.
It's how we roll.
Happy Thanksgiving!
So we agreed.
My friend KS and her fam were on the beach last year at a mini family reunion. They all rented a big place, then made a turkey dinner, then played on the beach. Bikinis and turkey? Not really designed to go together, but they made it work, and it turned out to be their best Thanksgiving ever.
Hubby and I have been yearning for that type of experience, and will most likely work toward that next year. A house, on the beach, cooking a nice but simpler feast, then hanging out on the beach afterwards. We'll import both of our offspring and simply enjoy the gathering as a smaller unit, on our terms.
But this year we're going traditional.
What that looks like?
Dinner at our house. We invite fam and any friends who'd like to join us.
I get up very early to prepare the bird, then pop it in the oven. I usually make a nice breakfast after that, which we enjoy as we continue the prep work and generally bonding. We really enjoy this stuff, and just allow the day to wrap around us and soothe us with delicious aromas, sensations and a deep sense of love and family.
Then our guests arrive, and all hell usually breaks loose within moments.
I'm not saying we have a difficult family. That would be a gross understatement.
What we have, in fact, is more complex than that.
We have a group of very intelligent, highly sensitive, artistically gifted, generally angst ridden relatives that manage to spin darkness from sunlit silk. Every.single.time.
The kids, who are now pre-teens and teens, are awesome. They're helpful and funny and like to play games and just be...which is cool, since adult idiocy that involves significant darkness is exhausting and boring after so many years.
The kids have learned to ignore the stupidity, and I'm taking lessons from them. Enough already.
Our cast of characters includes MIL, Grandma Gin, SIL, BIL, nieces, Daughter's BF, Hubby's buddy of many years, GR, (if he indeed chooses our festivities over another family's...he wavers from year to year and we're still not sure what tips the scales in our favor when he joins us...), possibly my crazy aunt (who once showed up bearing a huge Costco pumpkin pie conspicuously missing a slice, which, apparently, she had eaten for breakfast....and who always brings her own Ziplocs for easy leftover takeaway) and her crazier spawn daughter, and some neighbors who drop by later in the day for some cider or a glass of wine.
I'm determined to be cheerful and happy. My girl is home, my life is good, and I'm thankful for a million things in my life that I'm only beginning to recognize as blessings and count on a daily basis.
I dare you, oh family of deep intellect, little humor and gray thoughts, to push me out of my happy place. I will whack you with a big wooden spoon if you come into my kitchen with your dark clouds shedding ANY raindrops of acid this year. Be warned.
Onward. To the food.
Menu includes:
Organic Turkey, rubbed with fresh herbs, olive oil and spices. Stuffed with simple sage stuffing, then roasted to perfection. MIL insists on ordering this well in advance, then bringing it by later today. Every year. Gotta love that woman.
Stuffing. In the bird and a separate casserole dish.
Twice Baked Potatoes. MIL's signature dish, and requested by Daughter.
Yams topped with crushed pecans. Brought by SIL and fam.
Bread. Baked by Hubby.
Gravy. Me. Herb, simple.
Garlic Green Beans. Me. Sauteed with a little chopped garlic, EVOO, then finished with a little lemon zest, sea salt and crushed pepper.
Cranberry Sauce. Whole berry. Me.
Fresh Cranberry Relish. Me.
Pumpkin Pie. Daughter.
Chocolate Cheesecake. Daughter and me.
Wine. Us, and whoever wishes to bring more.
Apple Cider.
Oh, and Grandma, who's 90, insists on driving herself since we're hosting this earlier in the day. She says as long as it's light outside she'll be fine. And apparently she's recently upgraded her walker to a lighter weight model that's easier for her to get in and out of the car...
And for what it's worth? The first time I ever saw a Toyota Camry jump a median, bounce back into the right lane then proceed as if nothing odd had transpired? My little Grandma was at the helm, and my Great Aunt Julia was with her, on the way to meet me at Black Angus for lunch. Seriously. She wheeled up to where I was waiting in the parking lot (I was gasping, recovering from the adrenaline rush which accompanied witnessing said median jump/recovery), and never even acknowledged what had happened. Just got out of the car, sauntered over to Julia's side and pretended like she hadn't just endangered at least eight people within the last 90 seconds.
Ok, Grandma, well, in order to protect the general population of our fair city, we're going to provide limo service (ala my Nissan Altima). As always.
It's how we roll.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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