Thanksgiving thoughts...

This year Thanksgiving looks a little different from our usual.  For one thing, we are giving thanks for normalcy, in the guise of heat, hot water, and electricity, and keeping in mind our many, many fellow-citizens without any semblance of their usual Thanksgiving traditions.  Second, our faithful Thanksgiving guests are not coming to dinner (a previous engagement on a cruise) and won’t be bringing my friend’s excellent Bourbon sweet potato casserole—a great disappointment to my daughter, who dotes on it even though she dislikes liquor of all kinds. 

My dad, at nearly 102, has been invited to dinner at the home of his friend Sylvia, who has extended this kindness to him for many years.  As usual, he is planning to make a pecan pie, long the favorite of Sylvia’s late husband, Doug.  This year, I think he will need some help with this endeavor, but one of his caregivers is a fine baker and has already gone over the recipe with him to ensure he has all the ingredients at the ready. 

In spite of the fact that we could make the effort behind this day mostly optional, we will celebrate with a significant dinner. 
Steve would have opted for a big chicken, but we are sticking with turkey, due to Jessica’s enthusiasm for tradition.  I am trying out a new vegetable (Smashed Root Vegetables and Caramelized Leeks, from Martha Stewart Living, 11/2012) and a traditional vegetable (Green Bean Casserole, based on a recipe in The Best of Shaker Cooking, by Amy Bess Miller and Persis Fuller, 1985) that I have made for many years.   I've put the green bean recipe on the Recipes page!

We have many things to be thankful for, to be sure!  Wonderful extended family and great friends, health that is reasonable for our ages, stages, and behavior, sweet kitties, consistent, sustaining employment (even if the work is not always passion-driven), and opportunities to learn and grow whose importance cannot be overestimated. 

Our wishes for you are similar—may your Thanksgiving be filled with recognition of and thanks for the many gifts you can see in your lives, and with all the peace and joy you can envision for yourself and your family and friends…