Hi forum friends, since it's still before midnight... Happy Thanksgiving! I am exhausted but it was a good day. We just had a small group, just my 3 children and my daughter-in-law and grandbaby, and of course DH and my mom. My stepchildren came over to visit later, but not to eat since they were stuffed full already. Zeus, Fat Cat Nemo and Lily all enjoyed their turkey too. I did all the cooking like I always do (because I enjoy it) but I hate the cleanup afterwards. I cooked a 20 lb. turkey, homemade stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, butternut squash casserole and other assorted dishes. Finished it off later with homemade apple and pumpkin pies. My son and oldest daughter had to work today so our meal was in the evening and I'm still stuffed. It felt very festive here but more like Christmas because of the snow we got a couple of days ago. Everything is covered in white. South of here all they got was rain but we got lots of snow. Somewhere in my day I managed to escape for an hour to go see my Dad in the nursing home. I really missed his smiling face at the dinner table tonight....my Dad always raves about my cooking. I brought him some pumpkin pie and he made me happy by eating it all up with a smile. I was so happy to come here tonight and see some of you checking in. I miss 'visiting' with you all. Rita, Ginny and Nancy...it was great to hear about your day. And dear Jean...I'm sorry you were feeling a little blue today. I wish I could send Zeus over there to snuggle up with you like he does me when I am feeling down. I hope Ms. Blackie & Snoopy are taking good care of you. My best to all.... Celeste

We're done here. Shaun, that dinner guest is very handsome! Jessica, I hope they fixed the dishwasher. L2C46, that is a very cute turkey appetizer, a vegetarian option is always good (grin) Here we had 7. Ashley and Kevin made it, still no baby. Amanda, Dave and the kids and me. Mother went to my niece's, it was "her turn". Mother is in great demand on holidays, LOL, and came here last year. Stepmother had dinner with her sister, saving me 120 miles of driving, one more thing to be thankful for. We had a cheese ball with Ritz crackers to start, Dave loves that cream cheese/cheddar/dried beef/green onion mix, so I always make it for him. We also had some rabbit from the smoker to snack on while I got dinner "around", along with home canned pickled beets, sweet and dill pickles and olives. The main menu was: Turkey (a 21 pounder for 7 of us, both girls took leftovers) Sage and onion stuffing (I wanted to add oysters ala Seagrass but was roundly voted down, so Elery and I will have that) Mashed potatoes (with cream and butter, not kosher at all) Gravy Butternut squash/whole wheat dinner rolls Broccoli with cheese sauce Maple glazed roasted sweet potatoes Fruit salad Fresh cranberry and apple relish French Silk Pie Pumpkin Pie Ice cream cake with M&Ms Happy Thanksgiving. Annie

I'm cooking for 40 this year. Most years it's 30-ish, but this year is my parents' 60th anniversary (they were married on Thanksgiving Day) so the whole family will be here. We're having: 2 large turkeys Bread stuffing - some in the birds, extra baked separately Mashed Potatoes Turkey Gravy Sweet Potatoes - some roasted with garlic and rosemary, some candied Sauteed canned mushrooms - a family must have! Steamed whole green beans Corn for the kiddos Cranberry sauce - canned jellied and homemade whole with orange Assorted homemade dinner rolls Desserts: Pumpkin pie - 4 Pecan pie - 2 Custard pie - 2 Apple galette - 4 Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting decorated to look like their wedding cake Dinner is being served at 1:00, and I have out of town family staying with me so I anticipate some will hang around until 10:00 or so. I will bake a ham to slice for sandwiches in the evening along with leftovers from dinner. I'm tired already!

I might the day after, does that count? Probably Prosecco or sparkling wine while my son has sparkling cider and he comes back from hanging out with his dad. It'll be my turn to be with him. Some of my family are addicts/alcoholics. Three of the five people are recovering. Yay! At this dinner this week, one is praticing and one will be there who just abstains. I'm inbetween. I am perfectly happy without or with it. I haven't had anything recently, can even officially remember when it was last time?, and can do without when I am around them. I remember all the hiding places and sneaky behaviors they had. Ugh. If you have to hide it, it doesn't sound like much fun! What's ironic? At one get-together we got on this subject and my son asked me, how does someone fix DTs (we'd watched Intervention recently and I was saying how insane some lives get). This same group was there, and I replied "I dunno. I've never had DTs and I don't know what you do to fix it". Looked at them, and the unequivocal answer, without missing a beat, was "Drink more!". Oh the insanity It's how I knew I wasn't an alcoholic. That logic totally escapes me. It was logical to them. Mom's been sober 33 years and my siblings are each over 15 years. Each of them, one day at a time.