Happy holidays, part I

What a wonderful weekend we've had already! I don't do the whole Black Friday thing, but Thanksgiving always kicks off the whole holiday season for me. We spend most of the week enjoying Thanksgiving, then comes my birthday, then finals and vacation time, then Christmas and New Years.

Thanksgiving was so much fun. We spent lunch with my dad's family. My grandparents (and I feel so blessed that they are still living and that my children know their great-grandparents!), parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and cousins' kids were all there. Nearly all of them are fabulous cooks, so we always enjoy the food. (Digressing here, but when I was growing up, we did lots of church dinners. We learned quickly whose food was really good and whose wasn't. High on our avoidance list? The lady who mixed ground beef, ketchup and a can of beans and called it chili, andanother one who liked to use Dr. Pepper [aka cough syrup--blech] in the most unlikely dishes).

Even more impressive than the food was that it was a peaceful day. As far as I am aware, everyone had a good time, nobody's feelings got hurt, and we were actually glad to be family. Pretty remarkable with that many people, let alone people with that much history together. (Note: we didn't enter into any political discussions, although I thought I might have heard a couple of comments at the other end of the table, or perhaps things would have been a bit more acrimonious.) ;)

You know I love food, so you are expecting some details, right? Turkeys, naturally; gravy, mashed potatoes (I made mashed potatoes with caramelized onions and a touch of sharp Vermont cheddar melted inside), Pink Stuff (a family tradition that my aunt makes with cranberries, grapes, whipped cream and other yummy stuff), Green Stuff (I'm not sure, but I think it has fruit, Jello?, marshmallows, Cool Whip--you get the idea), rolls, deviled eggs, an assortment of yam and sweet potato dishes, the traditional green bean casseroles, and a bunch of other things that I can't remember.

Desserts? My grandmother made six pies. :drool: I made the mini-croissants: spiced cranberry with vanilla cream cheese, pumpkin pie, dark chocolate chip with Godiva cappuccino liqueur, and Bananas Foster. There were at least half a dozen other pies--Oreo, chocolate cream, my mom's blueberry dessert, and some others. My biggest regret about the meal was that because of Joel's corn allergy I didn't get to sample nearly the number of dishes I would have liked, since anything with cornstarch, most baking powders, etc. was out. And while you know that I love sweets, the things that I actually missed most were the cornbread dressing and gravy.

All in all, though, that probably worked out well, because later in the afternoon, all of Carlos' family met at our house for the Thanksgiving meal.