Pie-eve

I love the reaction I get when I tell people Thanksgiving is at my house. Either they say "Oh! Fun!" or I get a look like "how did you get roped into that?" I love to have dinner here. I love to have a house full of family, everyone talking and laughing, snacking, stuffing full of dinner, then falling asleep to movies in the living room. Mostly, though, I love to cook.

I think I should have been born a southern woman. I love to cook, but I don't necessarily pay attention to how healthy something is. I mean, yeah, on a daily basis I pay attention..I make sure our meals are balanced...that there is always a vegetable, and I try to pay attention to things like fat and salt and stuff that isn't good for you. But Thanksgiving, I"m in my element at Thanksgiving. Our stuffing uses a pound of butter. People who hate stuffing love my family's recipe, because it's just that good. I think it's the butter. Then of course there is the green bean casserole...squash with more butter (and brown sugar)...you know, all the standard stuff. And the gravy...lord I love gravy. It's a food group at this time of year, you know.

I think that, in general, people pay too much attention to how much weight they will gain during the holidays. Maybe it's because I don't go to a ton of holiday parties, but really the big meals are Thanksgiving and Christmas. Twice a year. You can't go crazy twice a year? Show restraint at all those holiday parties if you must, but please don't show up at my table telling me that a typical Thanksgiving dinner is 4,000 calories, because I will look right at you with a mouthful of food and say "huh"...then put more potatoes on your plate.

I miss my tiny man. I'm thinking of the past two Thanksgivings and all the fun we had. I"m thinking that this was the last healthy holiday he had, because it was shortly after this that he got the cold that would not go away and turned into bronchitis or RSV or whatever it was that hung on and on and on. I'm thinking of taking him to Bronner's in Frankenmuth two years ago the day after and watching him trip out on all the lights and shine. Mostly, I"m thinking that Thanksgiving last year was the start of a very dark time for me, and I can't help but think of it now and get a little blue. It feels like I'm standing at the top of a hill with roller skates on...