Monthly Musings

I don't join in a lot of link-up posts, but I have been known to join in on Monthly Musings with Holly and Patty on occasion. This month, they are musing about Thanksgiving preparations, and, Thanksgiving is my jam! Little known fact: I was born on Thanksgiving Day. Of course it's my jam! 

Let's get to it!

1. This year, I plan to host dinner for my immediate family, minus Queen B, who decided to stay in Texas  this year since she was so burned out on traveling after all the weddings she was in this summer. We'll miss her, but will see her at Christmas.

2. My all-time favorite Thanksgiving dish is the bread stuffing that has been on the menu every year of my life (except for that unfortunate year when we were visiting my grandparents in Texas and I was introduced to the world's driest cornbread dressing...my throat closes up just thinking about it). It's a pretty basic recipe: stale bread, onion, celery, butter, sage, poultry seasoning, pepper, an egg, the broth from cooking the neck and organs of the turkey, and the shredded meat from the neck...my mom adds the organ meats but I detest liver, so I pass on that...mix everything together, stuff loosely into bird, and roast. There are no real measurements here; season with your heart. Extra stuffing can be baked in a buttered casserole dish, but cooking it inside the bird takes it to a whole new level.

3. The best tips I can give you are: make as many of the side dishes that you can in advance and heat them up before serving; chaffing dishes, crock-pots, and warming pans are useful for this, as well.

4. Our favorite Thanksgiving traditions revolve around the meal, and having our family and friends around our table. Since the kids have been grown, we've also started a tradition of sipping pomegranate mimosas as we prepare the meal. There are some perks to having grown children 😊. We also spend Thanksgiving evening decorating the Christmas tree, which is a tradition that we started when the kids were quite small.

5. Turkey, all the way!

6. Thanksgiving is for pumpkin pie! We've usually had our fill of apple by now, since we participate in an apple pie baking contest at the local orchard each September (Hugh judged the contest for several years, and, this year, Mom baked the 3rd place winner!).

7. We aren't huge football fans over here, so I would say family movie. When the kids were small, we would hit the local theater for whatever the latest Disney offering was; now that they are older, we'll dial up something on Netflix.

8. Technically, we eat both; the same recipe (see #2) can be cooked inside the bird (stuffing) and/or in a casserole dish (dressing).

9. We are not Turkey Trot people. I'll take the parade, thankyouverymuch.

10. We always welcome friends to our celebration. That being said; when I was in college, my roommates and I hosted Friendsgiving every year. That was when I learned how to make my mom's recipes; it only took about a million long distance phone calls to her for advice and instructions. Those dinners remain some of my fondest memories of college.

This has been fun! Many thanks to Holly and Patty for hosting!