Thanksgiving 2015

We hosted Thanksgiving for the first time in 2015!  In the past, the shear size of our family kept us 

from hosting many cold weather events, but this year hosting just fell into place. My sister stayed in New York for the holiday, as she normally does. Charles's siblings and brother-in-law were in Chicago making a feast using the Game of Thrones cookbook.  With both sides of my extended family going elsewhere for Thanksgiving, that left the six of us, plus both sets of grandparents. Dinner for 10 we could handle.

At first I was tempted to make a 'historically accurate' Thanksgiving dinner.  Corn, geese, fish, and venison were the only verifiable dishes, so I expanded to the recipes of Sarah Josepha Hale, who pushed for a national Thanksgiving holiday back in the 1800s.  The Smithsonian has a nice article on the evolution of Thanksgiving, if you want to know more. As much as I love, history, research, and cooking, Charles finally convinced me that for the first go-around, we should just have a traditional Thanksgiving meal.  And he was right.


Our turkey was hand delivered from my  cousin's farm, which went organic last year.  We slipped herbs and butter under the skin for a moist, flavorful bird.  Baking we did in two parts.  Starting the day before,we cooked it until it was nearly done. Thanksgiving day we carved it, basted it with its own juices (or gravy) and finished the last with the last 20-30 minutes for a juicy hot turkey.

Charles and the kids made pierogies, a favorite of his from his childhood.  Growing up, Polish aunts and grandmothers made these little potato dumplings.  When the family moved from Canada, there was a pierogie lull, but Charles took on the task of making sure these ethnic delicacies make it to as many family holidays as possible.  I usually cover the mushroom sauce made to accompany them. This year he got the kids involved.  They all got to try the pierogie maker (a handy little gadget), and the older kids helped with the cooking.

Other dishes included succotash (a nod to that historic menu),  my dad's sweet potatoes, Marianne's fruit salad, green beans, stuffed squash, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, and pie for dessert.  We covered the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffed acorn squash, pierogies and succotash.  Our parents thankfully covered the rest.

Thanksgiving morning found me not frantically cooking, but frantically sewing.  At the last minute I decided we needed a table cloth.  I'd found a remnant at the fabric store the day before and got the hemming and ironing in before most of the household was up.  This was also a great opportunity to use GG Lois's china.  We try to use it, in the words of my grandmother 'enough to let the kids know it is special,' the thinking being that if we never use it, it won't mean anything to them, and if we always use it, it won't be special either.  This usually translates to major holidays and sometimes birthdays--so 3-6 times a year. 

 

 Charlotte and Ariadne got the kids' table to themselves this year. Some holidays we can fit everyone at one table, others there is an adult table (50+) a young adult table (14-36), and a kids & parents young children's table (0-36).  It varies a lot. 

After the meal it was time to clear the tables and make way for games, tea, and pie.  Settlers of Catan was enjoyed by all.  

Ariadne was determined to sit between her grandparents.  She crawled under the table and squeezed in. 

 After the big board game was finished, Charlotte and Charles got in a little chess.