It's a Ritual Sacrifice, With Pie

yup, it's Thanksgiving Day again and you know what that means: 10 hours of teeth-grinding family time and eating till you can't move! this year, in our traditional attempt to balance out the holidays between my family and his (we alternate), Stephen and i are spending Turkey Day at my mom's (Christmas will be with his family). she asked us to get there "nice and early " because she's planning on serving appetizers/antipasti. that's right, in addition to the dinner which will consist of soup, cranberry/orange relish, string bean casserole, mashed turnips, sweet potato casserole, brussel sprouts, stuffed mushrooms, stuffed artichokes (and of course) turkey and sausage/cornbread stuffing, she also plans on having a spread of pre-feast snacks: assorted cheese and crackers, prosciutto bread, spinach bread, marinated mushrooms, marinated peppers, chips/pretzles and dip and dried sausages. in case you haven't saved enough room for dinner, the vomitorium is the 2nd door on the left, please remember to gargle.

just listing all the food is making me a bit dizzy, especially because i know that dessert (which is served after the fruit and nut course) will be just as...intense: caramel-apple pie, pumpkin pie, peach cobbler and i was asked to make/bring bread pudding and pumpkin-cognac cheesecake (both of which were a very big hit last year). don't forget the coffee (black and brown), "to settle your stomach". are you dizzy? me too, but this is how we do holidays. as far as i know, it's an Italian thing; dinner lasts several hours and is divided up in at least 3 courses. our spin on it, though is that there will be no "italian food" present at the holiday table (except the artichokes). no lasagna, no ziti, no manicotti or spaghetti. why? i have no idea. i think it's because Thanksgiving is a completely American Holiday, with definite menu "rules"; all the other holidays (ie. Christmas, Easter, etc) are so distinctly italian in our house that the one non-religious holiday we celebrate is completely steeped in American Tradition (while at the same time, the table groans under the weight of Italian overkill). Anyhoo...

This Thanksgiving, when i bow my head and give thanks i'll be thinking of you (because chances are, if you're reading this, I know you and care about you very much). i'll be thinking of how lucky i am to have such wonderful friends (most of whom i've known so long that they're my family), my family who truly loves and supports me, my health (such as it is), and most importantly Stephen; without whom i'd not be half as happy or content as i am.

i'll also be very thankful that i took off on friday to recover. enjoy your Thanksgiving, everyone!

"Thanksgiving isn't about blending of two cultures. It's about one culture wiping out another. And then they make animated specials about the part where, with the maize and the big, big belt buckles. They don't show you the next scene, where all the bison die and Squanto takes a musket ball in the stomach"~ Willow (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)