Happy Thanksgiving!

For those of you who celebrate it, I hope you are having a great day! Our Thanksgiving is quiet today - it's just the two of us and the cat.

Over the years Thanksgiving has taken many different celebratory forms for me. Growing up, we would travel to various family members' houses for the holiday. We would rotate the hosting duties between my grandmother and my mom's 4 siblings, so each year it was in a different place. I have very fond memories of playing with my cousins (20 in all), eating at one of the "kids tables", listening to all the women in the kitchen and the boys/men yelling at the football games. We were a loud and rowdy clan and I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Unfortunately, as we got older, we got more spread out - cousins married and moved off, everyone got busy and those family Thanksgivings aren't really feasible anymore. Nowadays we make due with family reunions every other year. We are still loud and rowdy and its always nice to see everyone and catch up.

In the last years, I have shared Thanksgiving with friends & their families, immediate family members (all or a few), thousands of football fans (Go Cowboys!) and even by myself. I've come to realize that even though I miss those crazy crowds of family, I still can enjoy the day whatever I'm doing and whoever I'm with. It really is a day of thanks and family - even if it means sharing conversations with that family over the phone. The day also brings me joy thru good food and football! (and naps.hehe)

So, for our little feast - we had a delicious Texas'own Greenberg Turkey, mashed yukon gold potatoes (or pure as my Italian calls it), green beans, and rolls. The smoked turkey was DELICIOUS - it's all good and fine to bake your own but believe me, these turkeys are so good and so convenient. No stuffing or cranberries this year but thats ok - everything else was so good, who missed it??

To end the meal, Stefano made his mother's almond torte which was really good. He did a great job on it, and it was his first attempt! (though I must admit, I did miss my pecan pie, but dont tell stef hehe) After that, I napped off and on and watched the Cowboy game (and only drooled a little bit over Troy Aikman and those cute football players in the tight pants). Stef was busy watching some French movie on my laptop. That's my Italian! lol

All in all - it has been a nice stressfree day. Now I am off to make another familial call - hopefully my mom will answer so we can talk football. The game is going great! hehe

More later..