10 on the 10th

Thanksgiving at Our House!

Happy day, dearest reader!

For today’s blog post I am playing along with Leslie from Once Upon a Time Happily Ever After. I’m jumping the gun, because my posts go out on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and this month, the 10th falls on a Tuesday. How to finesse that one? Come out a day early? Or show up late? Either is unsatisfying. I’m early to everything, so that will be my M.O. this month.

Now if I can just figure out how to do the link up thing…

• Will you watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade? Football? Movies?  We’re not a football family… Unamerican, I know! We put on the parade to keep us company as we cook and prepare the day! If we can find A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, we’ll put that on, too.
• Who does the cooking?  Fix anything ahead of time?  Mr. CP and I will do the cooking. Now that our children are grown, they volunteer (Who am I kidding? They’re voluntold!) to bring side dishes they like and want at the table, but since we aren’t likely to see them this year, it’ll be back to me. I prep some of the sides and the dessert in advance. The real struggle this year will be dessert. There will be three (or maybe four) of us and everyone prefers something different. I am not making four desserts! Let me repeat that: I am not making four desserts. I am not making four desserts. I am NOT making four desserts!
• What time do you eat the big meal?  We eat anywhere between 2 and 4. Earlier just means getting up too darned early, and I like a late breakfast after getting things going in the kitchen. If we ate at noon, there wouldn’t be time for a relaxing breakfast…
• Do you set a formal table or keep things more casual? Place cards? Children’s table?  No place cards. No children’s table. We just pull up an extra table and make a T if needed. When our youngest son married, we bought a bigger table that seats 12 comfortably (14 intimately); so far that has kept us all at one table. I know our day is coming, though… We normally put down brown paper and crayons alongside the Waterford crystal. We’re high-low about everything in our world. Stoneware and silver. Bandana napkins.
• Is the food placed on the table or served buffet style?  Both? We put most of the food on the table and just spend the meal passing and serving, but since there’s not enough room on the table (with the full contingent) for all the food, a few of the dishes end up on a side table. I suppose that’s one perk of fewer of us this year? All the food will fit on the table with no worries of little ones burning fingers on hot serving plates.

• Ham or turkey?  Turkey, please! Mr. CP carves. but in the kitchen, not at the table. (Who needs that kind of pressure?) We try to save the wishbone for the grands. It’s always been theirs to pull, but now that there are three, we’ll have to decide to whom falls the privilege. Maybe the youngest two? Or the oldest and the youngest? What do you think? What’s for dessert?  Since one needs to be gluten free, there are usually two. My D-I-L Megan makes and brings a pumpkin pie. I’ve made pecan pie, chocolate mocha trifle, brownies, apple pie… We’ve even had make-your-own ice cream sundaes! It’s about what we have the time and energy to work out.
• Does your family have a Thanksgiving tradition?  We bless our meal and there are always a few toasts from all around the table. There will be lots of bottles of bubbly, some leaded, others non. If I can find holiday crackers we will make a mess with those; last year’s were darling pilgrim girls and boys. Our hallowed tradition comes after all the feasting and cleaning up. We kick off the Christmas season by watching A Muppet Christmas Carol. We won’t decorate for weeks; give me some Charles Dickens and I’m good! (The movie jumpstarts our reading of A Christmas Carol aloud each Sunday after dinner. We read each time we gather for a meal, which used to be twice weekly.)
• Yay or nay to leftovers?  Favorite leftover recipe?  Yay to leftovers! They’re the best part of Thanksgiving for our family. The hands-down family favorite leftover is turkey tetrazzini. (Mr. CP’s favorite post-Thanksgiving breakfast is a bowl of mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey and gravy with a bit of cranberry.) Close second? A quiche made with the leftover green bean casserole. It’s a lovely dinner on Friday as we recover from the carb hangover and I’m roasting the extra turkey breast I buy so that we will have enough leftovers. I doubt we’ll need that extra breast this year!
• What will everyone wear?  Dress up or comfy? They will wear whatever they show up in! They’re adults. Not much I can do about it. I try to remind our children to show up in something photo worthy. I like to dress for holidays, even if that means slipping on a clean blouse and some sparkle before we sit down at the table. Will there be family photos taken? Every year I swear we will take photos… And every year we forget until after someone has left. We are not a family good at taking photos. Ask our children. There’s not much record of their childhood.
• For what are you most thankful this year?  For our health and our lives! In a way that I haven’t been since my mother was discharged from rehab after her fall and hip replacement a few days before Thanksgiving 2017.

So how about you? What will your Thanksgiving look like this year? What’s your favorite dish? Do you decorate? I need some wishbone diplomatic wisdom… Please advise!

Stylishly and stuffedly yours,