Thanksgiving 2010

The Audet Relatives, circa 1950

I got some of the Thanksgiving shopping done yesterday, me and about a million other people doing the same thing.  I like to be sort of a peeping-Tom in the checkout line, eyeing what others are buying and comparing it to my own supplies.  Sometimes I am impressed seeing the assortments of imported cheeses and other expensive goodies that I pass on (reluctantly).  Other times I am a moderate snob when I examine prepared stuff and other fast food items knowing that my own meal will be homemade and the recipes go back generations.  (I can tell you that one family here will be enjoying A LOT of frozen corn). 

 

Beloved Aunt Rose

 This year, we will be enjoying a Pinon Sun Thanksgiving Day meal on Susan's Faltzcraft dishes that she has owned since 1993.  Tea Rose is the pattern and they are currently residing here with us while she gets her kitchen remodeled.  I will make the same stuffing that my mother makes and Aunt Rose made before her.  It done in the French Canadian tradition with onions and ground pork added for flavor.  It's quite good , but the best part is that it tastes like a lifetime of Thanksgiving dinners around tables filled with family and friends.   We'll fill in with the appropriate side dishes and salads and such.  
  

Amanda

 I'll make a small pickle tray incluidng black olives, of course, and then we'll recall Amanda's food humor with olives as her specialty.  Amanda is now a successful  attorney specializing in municipal law in Maine.   We knew there was genius in that humor!


One year, the local newspaper in Maine decided to do a Thanksgiving feature and for some reason, asked if they could do a photo of our family.  A photographer arrived and did a staged picture (note Sarah is peering into an empty serving dish).  We loved it.. Now we love that picture with all of us there, 3 generations present then.  Now the babies in that photo have babies of their own.  It's wonderful.

Dessert deserves it's own paragraph.  Paul and I will make the usual pies on Wednesday evening, Pumpkin and Pecan of course.  But the special dessert is a concoction called Graham Cracker Roll and it is not Thanksgiving or Christmas without it.  It's simple but elegant. Crushed Graham Crackers, cut up walnuts, dates, and marshmallows all rolled together with sweetened condensed milk.  It's served as a slice with a HUGE dollop of real whipped cream.  Yummy!

 This year we will enjoy Thanksgiving and give thanks for what has been a wonderful and terrible year.  This year Susan will be able to sit at the table for the whole meal.  While her illness is still present and she is still fighting, nevertheless, we fight on. This year, Tan will sit at the table with us and not in his walker.  We will fix him a little plate and if he doesn't want to eat something, he'll shake his head and say "no, no".  We know better than to attempt squash.  He just won't eat it.  Last year when we gave him a bite, he promptly threw up.  Squash is "no-no".   This year we will give thanks for many things; a new home in Colorado, a new family member in Joe Rich, the prayers and love of old and new friends, the sustaining undergirding of God and His blessings upon us. 

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.
Praise God all creatures here below
Praise Him above Ye heavely Host
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

Happy Thanksgiving everyone