I'm not going to lie: Thanksgiving is the one day my immediate family is always together. Not that it matters much: I eat supper with my parents and grandfather at least four nights a week. That's the sort of thing that happens when you live next door and run a business together. It is often more joyful to cook for others than just for myself, and why bother stocking two refrigerators completely when I'll never eat everything before it turns.
That doesn't mean that we don't have traditions, though. For the first time ever my mother's side of the family actually came to our home for a winter holiday meal last year...though we didn't know they were coming until the night before. It didn't really matter. As in all cases of holiday hosting, we had far too much food planned. Here in the Reid family, the Christmas and Thanksgiving food traditions are a bit blurred. The major difference? poultry instead of ham in November. We do roast turkey, noodles, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, stuffing, candied yams, fresh-baked rolls or bread, pumpkin pie, and bakeless cake {along with whatever vegetables Mom & I can shove down my father & grandfather's throats} for Thanksgiving. For Christmas, the menu is ham, scalloped potatoes, candied yams, fresh-baked rolls or bread, pumpkin pie, and bakeless cake, adding in assorted Christmas cookies.
Though I'll likely be posting the bakeless cake and various cookie recipes between now and Christmas, and am currently putting bread, stuffing, and maybe green bean casserole into the oven, I thought I'd do a mini list of Thanksgiving food for this holiday. Unfortunately, those comfort foods were posted at times of sorrow. Roast chicken simply takes less time than turkey. Pumpkin pie is delicious hot or cold. Mashed potatoes are easy as, well, pie, as I mention tirelessly in a post or two.
Originally, Thanksgiving was apparently celebrated as a harvest feast between early settlers and Native Americans. I don't think it was terribly widely celebrated until the American Civil War, when Abraham Lincoln declared it a national holiday. I really hope he wasn't the president that initiated the "pardoning of the turkey." {For more information, find yourself greatly entertained by watching a few minutes of The West Wing and a rather long dissertation on the President's actual lack of ability to pardon a turkey} However, the day of celebration was fixed as the final Thursday in November by Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the eve of World War II.
Even if it is just immediate family, Thanksgiving is one of three days each year we actually close the store. That means it's another day ripe for dressing up. Sparkly heels make even washing dishes more fun, and a relaxing afternoon on the couch more festive. For me, it marks the end of autumn and Black Friday is no day for shopping bu a day for decorating. Christmas is just around the corner, even for those who celebrate only the family togetherness and showering those you love with gifts of that holiday. Enjoy your day if you're celebrating here in the States, enjoy your Thursday if you are in a foreign land, but make sure to hug a family member or friend no matter where you are.
I am thankful for my family, my friends, their loves, a warm home, plenty of food on the table, the ability to derive enjoyment from beautiful things of myriad varieties, and a snuggly puppy. Everything else will come in its own time. What are you thankful for?
"Be well. Do good work. Keep in touch." - Garrison Keillor
Though I'll likely be posting the bakeless cake and various cookie recipes between now and Christmas, and am currently putting bread, stuffing, and maybe green bean casserole into the oven, I thought I'd do a mini list of Thanksgiving food for this holiday. Unfortunately, those comfort foods were posted at times of sorrow. Roast chicken simply takes less time than turkey. Pumpkin pie is delicious hot or cold. Mashed potatoes are easy as, well, pie, as I mention tirelessly in a post or two.
Even if it is just immediate family, Thanksgiving is one of three days each year we actually close the store. That means it's another day ripe for dressing up. Sparkly heels make even washing dishes more fun, and a relaxing afternoon on the couch more festive. For me, it marks the end of autumn and Black Friday is no day for shopping bu a day for decorating. Christmas is just around the corner, even for those who celebrate only the family togetherness and showering those you love with gifts of that holiday. Enjoy your day if you're celebrating here in the States, enjoy your Thursday if you are in a foreign land, but make sure to hug a family member or friend no matter where you are.
I am thankful for my family, my friends, their loves, a warm home, plenty of food on the table, the ability to derive enjoyment from beautiful things of myriad varieties, and a snuggly puppy. Everything else will come in its own time. What are you thankful for?
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