Thanksgiving 2007

We normally host a good sized dinner party for friends and family at Thanksgiving. We make it a big celebration with the food, table and wine. But this year we found ourselves alone in Memphis with only the dogs to keep us company. It was an eerie feeling, unaccustomed as we are to holiday solitude. So, we decided to create our own day and fill it with all that makes us happy.

The day began at 8AM with a long walk with the dogs. We treated them to a special city walk complete with new smells, sounds and views. But every neighborhood store was buttoned tight, even John's beloved coffee shop, so we circled our way back to the river, walking against a wind with a tinge of Chicago bluster as it stormed across the river from Arkansas.

Once home, we turned on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, toasted the day with home brewed coffee and prepared eggs and toast. As we ate, we reviewed the menu and eagerly looked forward to undertaking dinner preparations.

Our turkey was a little sucker, only 10.8 pounds. We stuffed her with spicy sausage dressing. A seasoning crisis was averted John combined fresh rosemary, dried sage, garlic, salt and pepper to coat the bird and combine with the white wine and butter basting sauce. Later, I made a rich gravy from the roasting drippings.

Thanksgiving should fill the house with succulent smells. For the sweet, we baked a pumpkin pie. Betty Crocker supplied the ready made pie crust and Libby's the pumpkin pie filling. I stirred in the eggs and milk. The smell was right, as if I'd make it from scratch. We topped it off with the whipped cream I made from scratch. Perfecto!

As we watched football with a blaze in the fireplace, Presecco in our glasses, the Andrews traditional shrimp cocktail to nibble, and the dogs at our feet, the house was filled with the aroma of roasting turkey and cooling pie.

John and I were thankful for having this Thanksgiving. For 15 years we've been madly in love and best friends. Our health is holding even though my shoulder may see surgery next year. We're financially sound and have a goodly number of friends across the country. Our children are talking to us.

As we ate, Bob, the husband of Dottie, one of my close highschool Chicago girlfriends, collapsed and never regained consciousness after his Thanksgiving dinner. He was 61, six months older than me. Be thankful. All else doesn't matter, does it?