Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving's such a bridge holiday, isn't it? Every year it sneaks up on you during your Halloween hangover when the stores have already started putting up their Christmas decorations & advertising Black Friday bargains.

The Halloween costumes & decorations have been put away but you're still rationing the candy. If you're like me, you've hidden a bag of Vanilla Tootsie Rolls in the pantry & allow yourself one a day. Just so they last.

Then, before you know it, it's Thanksgiving. There's baking, cooking, traveling to be done. The grocery stores are filled with crazed people looking for ingredients they only use once a year. "Traditional" becomes the word of the day. I'll admit, I'm all about traditional Thanksgiving dishes & get a little stabby when people start tweaking the recipe. My family's traditional meal is turkey, corn, green beans (but not green bean casserole---more on that later), my Memere's meat stuffing, mashed potatoes, traditional stuffing for the heretics in the family, rolls. Dessert is usually a pecan pie (my brother Michael's favorite) and either apple or pumpkin pie. The men in our family do the cleaning up.

As much as I love tradition, it seems we really don't have one when it comes to Thanksgiving. We've gone to Hunter's aunt's house in ATL which is so much fun. She hosts friends from the neighborhood & it's not uncommon for there to be close to 40 people there from noon until well into the evening. We've hosted single soldiers during the years Hunter wasn't deployed. We went home once & last year we went to a friend's house. This year we're going to the same friend's house. They live on some crazy number of acres in the "country" so a day at their house involves feeding the horses, tractor rides, the men go out shooting cans/ targets, the kids "swim" in the hot tub", good food, good company & an all around wonderful day.

Last year we were in charge of dessert & appetizer. This year we're doing 2 appetizers (fruit salsa w/ cinnamon pita chips and my bacon wrapped artichokes--they were a huge hit last year) and I have the honor of making the green bean casserole.

Have a safe & happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy your traditions, whatever they may be!