Thanksgiving 2016

Hello friends!  We sure did have a good Thanksgiving day yesterday.  I hope you had a good one if you celebrate.  If you don't have Thanksgiving where you live, you might want to start.. LOL!  It's a day to have a feast to celebrate all the things you're thankful for.  Each of us went around the table to say what we are grateful for, it was nice.  Mainly it was for each other.  :-)

I put on a fresh tablecloth and had my tall son hand me down my turkey dishes from the cabinet above the fridge.  I found my fall napkins and set the table with candles, crystal and silverware.  I wish you could smell the house right then, the aroma of roasting turkey with sage dressing.  

For this photo I set a few things on the turkey platter, my pilgrim couple and my 2 majolica ceramic turkeys.

I saw one of these turkey plates on a blog a few years ago and thus began a search for some.. and found a set on Replacements.com.  It's called "His Majesty" by Johnson Brothers.

Dayle is our turkey chef.  He chops onions, celery and parsley and sautes it butter, then adds organic chicken stock and dried dried bread cubes, pepper, salt, poultry seasoning and lots of rubbed sage.  Then he stuffs what he can into the turkey and puts the extra in baking pans.  He had begun to carve the turkey before he remembered we hadn't taken a photo.. lol.

I put my son in charge of the green bean and french fried onion casserole.. it takes a math major to convert the ingredients by two and a half.  :-)  Plus, he needs to learn to make this stuff.  I was the "overseer".  He also peeled the fresh yams and potatoes and put them on to boil.  When the yams were almost done, we drained them and put them into one of my Dansk red enameled steel baking pans and I cut butter and dotted them with it and sprinkled that with brown sugar and shook some "cinnamon plus" over the top and then spread miniature marshmallows over that and baked it.  While those were in the oven I mashed two batches of potatoes with half-and-half and some salt.  I put those in my red Dansk pot and covered them to keep them warm.. after adding a chunk of butter on top and sprinkling them with paprika.  

I then made a slurry of water and flour, added some more broth to the turkey drippings and whisked it all together until it thickened.. and the gravy was PERFECT!  Here is our dinner all set to savor each bite.  :-)

Now it's the day after, we're watching a good movie on TV, by the fire and working up an appetite for.. LEFTOVERS!  LOL!  This scene is behind me.

I will close with a poem I wrote years ago when all my siblings and their children came to the farm for Thanksgiving.  We've all had our families grow with grandchildren and now have separate dinners - but this one will remain in my memory as one of the best times in my life.  ((hugs)), Teresa :-) 

The Heart of Autumn

Memories -- they roll through my mind.
All the years of Thanksgiving celebrations.
I remember them, with family & friends,
Different places, different faces.

Now, our home is where we gather.
It is because it is so right here.
The big old farmhouse, the barn,
The big oak tree obliges with leaves of red.

The family arrives, Dad brings ice cream.
Mom brings the pies fresh from her oven.
Robert, my only brother, brings his
Family from afar. Thank you brother.

As I open the door to our farmhouse
Welcoming Sister Roberta and her clan.
We all walk into the warm, steamy fragrant room.
Drinking in the smell of roasting turkey and sage.

Baby sister Denise brings her young ones,
What would the day be without them?
Thanksgiving day, we have always come together
The family draws tight as if by an unseen magnet.

The table is set with my finest china,
Napkins are folded like sculptures.
Goblets await cider, candles are alight.
The preparations reach a crescendo.....

Then, Dayle pulls his perfect creation,
The biggest turkey he could find,
From the oven, and the room quiets.
We all gather around, and glory in the scene...

A family, full of love and cheer.
This is the true America, our pilgrim
Ancestors would be proud, of what
Their brave adventure has wrought.

And we are filled with thanks.

Copyright 1995 by Teresa Kasner