Thanksgiving At Our House

Although I felt like I was playing catch-up for the previous week, we did manage to pull off our traditional Ridiculously Complicated Feast this year, thanks to my brother, Jeff,  taking on more than his share of the advance preparation. It went something like this:

 

Thanksgiving Dinner at Our House

Tomato-Herb Soup
Mixed Salad with Pears, Walnuts and Blue Cheese
Roast Turkey
Grilled Beef Tenderloin
Gravy
Green Beans with Bacon Vinaigrette
Cauliflower with Hazelnut Butter
Corn
Creamy Mashed Potatoes
Dueling Stuffings
Orange-Cranberry Relish
Apple Pie

I don't have a special recipe for roasting my turkey, I try to change it up every year. This year I tried a new one called, "My Sister Roasted the Turkey". Best one yet!

I have to say that my beef tenderloin was perfect. PERFECT. I managed to get medium-rare all the way to medium-well in one, long tenderloin. Sure, it was a complete accident, but a happy accident nonetheless. At the last minute, I realized we didn't have any horseradish, but Jeff whipped up a reduced-wine sauce in about 12 seconds and that made it even better.

No surprise here, but we usually focus on the food. I'm trying to add in a few Thanksgiving traditions that relate to actual, you know, thankfulness, but I haven't settled on anything yet.

I skipped place cards this year in favor of personal wishbones for everyone with a little tag on which each guest wrote thing for which they were thankful this year. I'm going to collect them in a jar and fill them anew each year. Of course, nothing, not even wishbones, can escape the clutches of competition in my family, so we quickly determined the "best" thumb position required to win the wishbone pull every time. It's a sickness.

Next year, I'm going to tape a huge sheet of drawing paper to the refrigerator door around the first of November. All month long, we're going to write or draw things we're thankful for. Guests will be encouraged to participate too. By Thanksgiving, I think we'll have quite a work of art and we'll be reminded to be thankful everyday, rather than just one.

On the day after Thanksgiving, I skipped the crazy Black Friday shopping (gasp!), and slept in. But that night, I went out with some of my old friends from school who were in town for the weekend.
Best. Night. Ever.
Well, maybe not ever, but in a really long time. I hadn't seen some of my friends in more than 20 years and it was like we had just talked yesterday.

It was really a great weekend.

Thanksgiving also marks the beginning of the Holiday Season at our house. It is followed by David's birthday (which almost always falls on the Thanksgiving weekend), Christmas, my birthday, and ends with The Superbowl.
Can't wait.

Things I Learned This Year:

1. I used to think it would be better if guests didn't arrive until after everything is done, when I've transformed back to my human self, but everyone arrived really early this year and that made it a little more fun.
2. Having someone else make the turkey doesn't make Thanksgiving weird, it makes it better.
3. There is almost nothing better than getting together with old friends and realizing that the passing of time doesn't change the important things.