Joyous Thanksmas!

One of the many, many things that Tim and I share is a love of Thanksgiving dinner. (Pumpkin pie is his favorite birthday treat.) We also love to entertain, especially at the holidays. We've learned, though, that planning a big Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving isn't necessarily the best way to go.

Last year we skipped Thanksgiving entirely - we'd planned a trip to southwest Germany, but had to cancel because I got the flu - but celebrated a very memorable "Thanksmas" in Ohio on our eastbound return trip from Connie's wedding in Los Angeles. I'm not sure if it was Jim, Amy, or Becca that came up with the name for the occasion, but it sure fit.

So this year, we decided to host a Thanksmas dinner. (The table was decorated for Thanksgiving, the rest of the house for Christmas, and Tim put out our plush turkey with a Santa hat on just for Thanksmas.) Although many of the friends we'd invited had to cancel, we had a lovely evening - and a deeeeeelicious turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Turkey, ham, two kinds of stuffing, sweet potatoes, green beans, mashed potatoes, cranberry relish... our table was literally overflowing with yummy goodness, even before we brought out the pies! We tried some new recipes and were thrilled with the results - good notes for my holiday journal. (Must track down the gravy recipe I used...) We're now feasting on leftovers, parceling some out to friends who couldn't join us, freezing what we can to enjoy again over Christmas weekend, and generally trying to empty the fridge before we leave for a long weekend in France.

It seems that Pauline is inheriting this Thanksgiving enjoyment from us. She was quite active as I bustled around the kitchen, but did let me rest when it was time for Tim to cook and me to put my feet up. She also seemed to prefer the small glass of wine I had with dinner to the sparkling grape juice I had as an aperitif. (Jim, this is definitely your niece. Whatever else she's done to my taste buds, we both enjoyed the '98 Meursault tremendously...)

This was also a good warm-up for our weekend trip to visit Antoine, Caroline, and her parents in Burgundy. I can't wait to see the Vuillemins, but I know I'm going to need to find excuses to walk or romp with Antoine to burn off the calories from Caro's mother's incredible cooking. And the yummy French bread... and cheese... yay!