My Thanksgiving Table

Today, I have the day off. Another thing to be thankful for. I have last minute shopping that involves going to Wal-Mart to look for burner trays that I haven't been able to find anywhere else. They just don't fit. This venture will take place early, early, early so I can get home and start baking and prepping tomorrow's feast. My sister will be coming tonight to spend the night - a new tradition that we started last year. She will help me get the bird ready, combine the dressing, peal potatoes, etc. Then we will have a gin and tonic, some potato-corn chowder, and watch "White Christmas". If all goes well, most of the food will be ready to go into the oven, so all we have to do is set-up the dining room. I have a very small house, so it is always a challenge to seat 16-18 around my table. Another thing to be thankful for -- my parent's dining room table and buffet. My dad was known for adding extra guests on Thanksgiving day, so my mother was very gracious and just added another leaf to the table. At our house, their table can only be expanded so far (small room), so we add a table at the bay window, parallel to the dining table. The kids enjoy sitting on the window seat.

It is important to me to make sure that everyone has a chair at a table, in the same room. I like us all to sit down together, all at the same time, just this one day, as a family. Some where in my head, this was imprinted as the way it should be. I probably saw it in a Norman Rockwell painting. Actually, I think that it has to do with keeping all my "chicks" in one basket. This way, I know that on Thanksgiving Day, for a few hours, all of my "chicks" are safe and accounted for. A big, big thing to be thankful for, not just on Thanksgiving, but every day. I am blessed with a wonderful family -- even those that cannot be in my dining room tomorrow. They are spread across the state, country and across the Pacific. They will be with us tomorrow in our hearts.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day and an extra slice of pumpkin pie!