thanks alot actually!

Today, here in the UK, we celebrated (in our house) Thanksgiving. It was wonderful. Good friends came over with children and the adults ate, chatted, napped, and even watched a bit of telly. It was super.

The meal came off without a hitch (except for the salmon which I forgot to make - microwave, I love you!). My own cornbread dressing (aka stuffing), a free range bird (we'll call her Lilly), homemade giblet gravy, roasted garlic mash, sweet potato casserole (with tri-color marshmallows, of course!!), and green beans as a garnish. Yum, I say it again, yum.

I couldn't have done it without my favourite helper, my Jojo. He is stellar on holidays. He LOVES the food therefore he is on hand to do anything, anything at all to help it on it's way to the table and then as a token of appreciation, he does the washing up. What a dream.

The kids got on splendidly and didn't fight (well the brother and sister did ONCE, that in itself is amazing for a full 6+ hour period). They tried everything they were given to eat and were most patient when the grownups wanted some quiet time to digest and try and force down a cup of tea/coffee.

The weather bit the big one so in a way, it was a blessing because this kept us indoors and visiting, gaining a bit more quality time with our lovely friends. The house felt so cozy and our friends were so at home that one of them napped on the sofa. A true compliment I say.

If I could have had one wish it would have been that I hadn't lost my voice the night before due to the dregs of a cold. So I was croaky and whispery most of the day, no singing for me. Maybe a good thing?

Ok, and one more wish (since we're wishin' and all) is that all the crap we loaded up onto our queen size bed in an effort to make the downstairs more hospitable (and indeed habitable) was magically put away by the tidy up fairy. Alas, it was still there when I drug my tired butt to bed. It's now all over our floor. A fire hazard, yes probably. I'll sort it tomorrow.

I hope that everyone else who celebrated Thanksgiving was able to just sit and enjoy themselves for a few minutes. So much effort to travel and cook, etc. Do we give thanks on this day?

Which reminds me, we totally forgot to give thanks so here it is:

Thank you for my lovely family, my beautiful daughter and lovely husband. Thank you for my health (laryngitis not withstanding), my home, my quality of life and my wonderful friends. Thank you for my mom and grandmothers who encouraged me to cook, showed me what they could and passed on their cookbooks. Thanks very much indeed.

Until next time, ciao!