This year I am traveling to Arizona to visit my family for Thanksgiving. On our table will be many things; smoked turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, cornbread stuffing, Grandma Hughes’ noodles, pistachio pudding, and rolls. I am eating at my dad’s house this year and am looking forward to seeing relatives I don’t often get to see.
When I am at my mom’s, the menu is similar, but includes my mom’s potato salad, Grandma Ogle’s dumplings, and deviled eggs—oh how I love those deviled eggs. There’s also usually a few loaves of banana bread, a vegetable tray, and freshly baked chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies.
What will be on your table this Thanksgiving?
Are you the chef or do you let someone else do the cooking? Are you relaxed or stressed during the holidays? Holidays in general are a wonderful time to prepare food for the people you love. I am happy to be going home this year, but I will definitely miss preparing the dinner myself. One of my greatest joys in life is preparing a meal and knowing I filled someone’s stomach up—and hopefully their soul as well. I love the smell of Thanksgiving dinner cooking on the stove and in the oven, intermingled with the sounds of laughter and chatter among family and friends. I love serving the dessert, that everyone swears they can’t possibly eat, but somehow, they find the room to devour it all.
No, I don’t love the clean-up. I could also do without the whole turkey carving (some people are carving geniuses—I am not one of them), but there are so many things I do love.
I love that people say grace around the table, even when they don’t say it any other time of year. I love that children find their own favorite side dishes and I love that even though homemade cranberry sauce may taste better, you’ll still find the canned cranberries with the ridges from the can sitting on the table every year.
Traditions are good—tables are good. Thanksgiving…is good. Happy Thanksgiving—may all of your kitchens bustle with warmth and your tables come alive with love this holiday season.