Friday, November 28, 2008

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a nice quiet dinner with Aaron's parents and brothers. I had a fairly relaxing day of cooking while Aaron and the boys strung up Christmas lights in the front yard. It felt a little strange to me to have so few people over for Thanksgiving; growing up, Thanksgiving was usually a family reunion which required strategic placement of furniture and food. One year we had so many aunts, uncles and cousins that we had not one but TWO kids tables, one in the dining room next to the "big" table and one spilling out into the hall. I think my favorite part of Thanksgiving when I was young was playing in my parents' huge empty kitchen after dinner; they had a big kitchen table that got moved to the dining room twice a year, once at Thanksgiving and once on Christmas Eve, and the vacancy it left meant the kids had a huge space of linoleum floor to run around and slide on in our socks. Because of that, it doesn't quite feel like Thanksgiving to me unless the furniture is rearranged. We didn't have to move our table which is good because we don't really have anywhere to move it to, and it occurred to me last night that one of the things I'm thankful for is fact that there are so many people in my life that I care about, it would be impossible to gather them all around one table. Especially in my little house.I realized just before setting the table that I didn't really have any decorations planned; I usually just light candles, but Matteas thinks he's Smokey the Bear and takes open flame situations very seriously, so candles were out. I cut some hydrangeas from the front yard and added a little of this and a little of that from our fall decorations around the house.
The living room, three hours before dinner.
The living room, twenty minutes before dinner. The fabulous cleaning and vacuuming job was courtesy of my husband Aaron.
The dining room, three hours before dinner.
And later. You can't see very well in this picture, but Jack is wearing his glasses.
The morning was fairly peaceful; I made this apple galette while sleepy-head Matteas slept in. He woke up just as it went into the oven.
Which was just in time to enjoy the leftover cinnamon-sugar apples.
A culinary triumph: a dairy-free pumpkin pie that was, frankly, amazing. I'll post the recipe later.
The cozy fire Aaron made after dinner which crackled long into the night.

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