The Best of Elle*Bee: Happy Thanksgiving

I'm repeating my post from last year because not much has changed. Here's what I wrote about Thanksgiving traditions:

Since moving back to the state in which Dear Hubby and I were born and raised, and where his family still resides, we’ve settled into our regular Thanksgiving tradition. It’s generally accepted that we will all gather at my father-in-law’s house. We always did with the exception of two years: his Sister #2 hosted one year, his Sister #4 hosted another year. Her house is largest of all the family’s but hers has an older oven and smaller than ours.

Still the drill is the same: Father-in-law will cook a turkey AND a ham. (Dear Hubby’s Brother #2 is allergic to poultry.) He also makes a casserole of some kind and a meat dressing. I never understood the concept of meat dressing, but whatever…

My mother would always make herbed bread dressing (aka embellished Stovetop Stuffing). This is my contribution to the festivities. I have also branched out into cornbread dressing with cranberries and walnuts because of my brother-in-law’s poultry allergy (my regular Stovetop Stuffing contains chicken stock). I don’t eat it though – not a fan of cornbread. Update 2007: I'm not in the mood to make cornbread stuffing so in addition to the aforementioned Stovetop and the below-mentioned green bean casserole, I'll make roasted, seasoned brussel sprouts. An acquired taste, I know....

I also make the traditional string bean casserole, complete with the Durkee’s fried onions on top. And I’ll buy an apple pie. I remember early on when Dear Hubby and were dating, I was initially mortified by his family’s Thanksgiving menu. Meat dressing? Pumpkin and mincemeat pies, but NO fruit pies? No black olives? (Okay, so that was a stretch. My mother used to set out a little dish of raw radishes and pitted black olives to snack on while the turkey was roasting, so I’ve come to associate black olives with Thanksgiving.)

My own personal tradition – after dishes have been loaded in the dishwasher and the football game’s on TV – I’ll write my Christmas cards. (For the record, I don't actually mail the cards until around Dec. 10th.)

This year, 2007, someone else is bringing a fruit pie. I have my olives, and my Christmas cards, so I'm all set!

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * Fastforward to November 21, 2007 * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Again, we have so much to be thankful for this year. Continued health for our family. My losing 20 pounds via WeightWatchers and not having gained it back (ask me again when Thanksgiving is over!). An awesome family trip to Disney. An uneventful hurricane season, which formally ends on December 1, so perhaps I'm counting that blessing a little prematurely (but I don't think so). Good friends, great family. Well behaved (most of the time) kids who still seem to accept and practice our family values. It's been good.

Here's wishing all of you a very Happy, Safe Thanksgiving, and even more to be thankful for in 2008!