The cranberry sauce is made as are the yams. After I cook them, I whip them in the Cuisinart for a light fluffy texture. Don’t try this with potatoes as they turn gluey. I add a cup of orange juice, orange zest and pinch of pumpkin pie spice. Tomorrow my son and daughter-in-law will be here with a pecan pie and an apple pie. Charles will cook the turkey. I’ll make my mother’s cornbread stuffing. Southern cornbread has no sugar. My mother always called sweet cornbread, “Yankee cornbread” with a bit of southern disdain. Mine will be southern.
Thanksgiving is about giving thanks not only for what we have but what we’ve had — all those past Thanksgivings with family. So as you take out and polish the family silver (for me it’s my grandmother’s cranberry sauce spoon with her monogram, my mother’s ornate pie server), let’s remember those women who came before us and chopped, stirred and basted as I will tomorrow from 9 till noon so that the family could sit down together and give thanks, thanks that we are gathered together. Let’s keep in our hearts military families who each day sacrifice in our behalf, not just the soldiers but the families themselves. Tomorrow is a day of thanksgiving.
I thank all of you who have become part of my TeaCHildMath family and shared your stories with me these last three years. I wish you and your families a Happy Thanksgiving!