Holiday Time

Well, here it is the Monday after Thanksgiving and in just a short time we will be celebrating Christmas. As many of you know, this time of year is my favorite. With all the decoration and gatherings with friends and family, it doesn't get any better than that.

I have to say our 9th Annual Thanksgiving Dinner was a huge success. We, of course, had a tremendous bounty of food, but more than that, we had some wonderful friends that joined us. There was a total of 12 for dinner, and then others came for dessert. It was really great. I told Betty that maybe this year would be our last one because it is a lot of work. But when I was asked about next year, I said sure. One of the things that makes it hard is not only the cooking but the cleaning prior. After dinner cleaning is a snap as everyone chips in and when I said that I was thinking about not having it next year because of all the work, I was chastised because I had not called anyone for help. So next year, I'm going to take advantage of the offers and call for reenforcements. I had planned to take "tons" of photos but was to busy and forgot. I guess that comes with aging.

A couple of years ago, Keith's father and mother joined us for our annual dinner and I had fried a turkey. Well, Kelly, Keith's dad, really liked it and the next year when Keith and Mary were going to their son's for Thanksgiving, Keith asked his Dad what he and his mother were going to do for the holiday. Kelly just said' "I guess we'll go to Fred's!" To make a long story short, now Shawn and Candi, Keith and Mary's son and daughter-in-law, come down to Florida for Thanksgiving so they don't join us for our celebration. The week before Thanksgiving, Kelly asked Keith if they were going to have fried turkey, so Keith called me to ask if I was going to fry one. I hadn't planned on doing it but I agreed to do it, so I fried a turkey on Tuesday and split it with them. It did turn out quite tasty.

I'm always afraid we won't have enough, and every year we have an abundance of leftovers, so I will make extra things. It gives me an opportunity to do a little experimenting and I have to say most of the time the things I make are well received. I of course cooked a 21 lb. turkey, which I brined overnight, and I made a wonderful dressing with pancetta, chestnuts, dried cranberries, as well as onions and celery. I had made my stock for gravy earlier so that came out really flavorful. I also made Brussel Sprouts Au Gratin which was really a treat. And for dessert I made a Pumpkin Cheesecake, another hit. When we were in Aruba on our cruise, I had purchased a Dutch cheese that is very similar to Brie so I baked it in puffed pastry with dried cranberries, walnuts and brown sugar. Add to that all of the goodies everyone else brought, you can see we didn't starve to death, that's for sure. We might have died from gluttony but not starvation.

Saturday, I started decorating the house for Christmas and put up the tree. I purchased the tree in Arizona after Christmas a couple of years ago and it is really pretty. With our special ornaments it really makes it feel as if it's Christmas here in Florida. One of the things I was given by one of my bosses a number of years ago was a Mikasa sleigh candy dish. Betty filled it with peanut M&M's and said she was done decorating. However, I have to move some of the decorations to make it more festive. When I have completed my decorating I'll share some photos with you.

That's all for today but I will get back to our cruise in the next day of two. Of course, I will have some sidebars along the way before I finish, but that' the way my mind works.