Sunday, November 16, 2008

What's your family's tradition?

Last Thanksgiving, we had lived in our house for less than a week. I had never used the vintage 1971 oven before that day. I was pregnant, and more absentminded than I care to admit. Our dining room table was literally delivered on Thanksgiving Day - at 12:30 p.m. Patrick's parents were coming to stay with us for the holiday and I was so stressed that I was breaking down in tears.

I made some horrible errors. First, I left the eggs out of the pecan pie - which left it runny. I forgot to take the giblets out of the turkey, so my mother in law still jokes that he brought his own lunch. I have a feeling I will never live that down.

My mom is now living with us, and acting as Julian's full-time nanny. Patrick's parents are heading back up to visit us this Thanksgiving. So we'll have a full house for Thanksgiving this year. I'm excited about planning the menus for the week, and was wondering - what's your family's signature meal? What would simply *not* be thanksgiving for you without a specific dish?

Also, 35 days from LMP. A HPT on Friday was negative, so I guess I'm just running late this cycle. Still breastfeeding (though much less than I was), but I've been fairly regular since he was about 2 months old. Hate this "what's going on" feeling.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanksgiving is an EVENT in our house. I have to make pumpkin cheesecake every year. I wrote a post about it here: http://tinyurl.com/65m4eo If you click through to the pic on flickr there are notes for what everything is.

I can't wait till we have a house that can hold our family for holidays.

Mom to 4 said...

My family makes rice cassarole every year for Thanksgiving/Christmas. Never fails, one of us makes it. It's fairly simple, and doesn't take too much time (I don't think, I've not had my turn making it yet).

Molly said...

My aunts stuffing is the best. I think it's basically normal stuffing, but there are raisins and bits of apple in it and it is amazing. Also, my grandma's garden-grown personally preserved corn. She died about 2 years ago, and we ate the last of it last year. I miss it.

This year we are trying something different, since we are so far from our families:

http://www.jfolse.com/whiteoak/Thanksgivingmenu.htm

A true Louisiana Thanksgiving, complete with seafood and mirlitons.