The First Thanksgiving

This year was my First Thanksgiving.  After 35 years of being in my own household, I made my first Thanksgiving dinner this year.

Up until now, we celebrated with my whole extended family.  Of course, as the years went by, the family got bigger and bigger with the addition of children, grandchildren, boyfriends and girlfriends, etc.   Last year, my Dad announced right after Thanksgiving that he couldn't do it anymore.  25-30 people for a sit-down dinner was just too much for him.  And I can't blame him.  It would be too much for anyone!

So this year, each of my siblings and I did our own Thanksgiving.  I was kind of melancholy all week.  Changing tradition is hard for me.  I always looked forward to Thanksgiving with my siblings. Doing something different was just...........different.

But I began to get into the spirit of things.  I shopped for a pretty fall tablecloth.  I made up my menu.  I even bought some new dishes so they'd match my new tablecloth!

I invited my brother and wife and niece.  I invited my children - but gave them the option of going to their in-laws if they wanted. I remember how hard it was when my kids were little to go "house-hopping" on a holiday, and wanted to make life easy for them.  And I invited a couple of old folks and stragglers.

I ended up with nine people at the dinner table.  My brother John, his wife Ruth and my niece Laura.  My son Nick and his wife Kelly (and my granddaughter Audrey....5 months old!)   And my dear Aunt Izy who's almost 89, and my cousin Paul, who has no siblings or parents still alive.

The night before, I made Traditional French Pork Stuffing.  We always called it "Fau"  (I'm not sure of the spelling, but that's how it's pronounced.)  It doesn't look pretty......in fact, my stepson once called it "that gray meat", but anyone who's eaten it knows it's absolutely delicious.

Afterwards, you take the leftovers and put it in a pie shell and it's called a Tortiere.   I'll be doing that today for when my brother comes over to watch the football game.

It was fun to set a pretty table.

On Thanksgiving morning we divided our time between getting the food ready and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.   Hubby was a huge help with peeling all the potatoes and sweet potatoes.  

I realized that I was having a great time getting ready for my guests.  All the years I lived in my condo, and even before that when I had a house but a husband who didn't like having people over, I longed to be a hostess.   I've done some entertaining since buying the house, but somehow, this seemed more special than usual.

We ended out having a beautiful meal.  (even though the rolls were slightly overdone!)  I finally timed my turkey correctly and it came out nice and moist instead of dry.  Veggies were all hot and delicious.  And the Fau was perfect!

I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked....and of course, they were all pics of the baby!

My brother says hello to his great-niece

Jamie was able to come over after she worked.  She works in a school for challenged students, and had to be there.   She's teaching Audrey how to play "Twinkle Twinkle" on the piano.

Laura was very excited to meet Audrey for the first time.  And Audrey looks pretty happy too.

It turned out to be everything you would wish a holiday to be.  Lots of food, family and lots of chatting and laughing.  After everyone left, I felt like I'd had a real holiday.    And of course, the best part was Hubby helping clean up!

He's really the part of my life I'm most thankful for!