One of the wonderful things about Thanksgiving on the
Plateau is that you are not forced to listen to Christmas music since three months
before. (This is the result of another tremendous benefit to the Plateau: no overwhelming mall...that is to say, no mall at all.) That way, you’re actually
excited and in the mood to play your favorite songs (Handel's Messiah anyone?) as you cook and eat and decorate.
We were very thankful for a delicious meal….we bought
sausage for the special occasion and served it with carmelized onions. And I had brought in cranberries for a cranberry,
ginger, citrus sauce (yum!). Bonita made
a vegetable salad, Jenna (an intern who is with us for this year) made the mashed potatoes,
and Judy made pumpking rolls, pecan pie, and Montgomery pie (some of us were busier than others). Blessed.
(Dave was visiting, Bonita is taking the picture, and Manis had stepped out for the moment. Jenna is to my left at the table.)
Ani was so incredibly excited for Christmas, she was jumping around and dancing to the Christmas music. We shared a few Sugar Plum Fairy
moments. I tried to get a picture of us
whirling around…this was my favorite.
After dinner, we set to the task of assembling the
tree.
In my opinion, setting up a fake tree is no easier than a real one. But we don't really have a choice, unless we want to chop down a cactus.
Obviously, we don’t take ourselves too seriously…
It's a little difficult to tell in the picture, but every year Judy puts out her white Thanksgiving tablecloth, and everyone present at dinner writes something they are thankful for from the past year. What did I write? Many things, but one of them is how thankful I am for my stove, which was hooked up the week of Thanksgiving. I am now able to make my tea and coffee at home, and have even cooked breakfast twice. Love it! It also comes in handy for tea parties.
(PS Tea pahties requiyah yore most terrible British accent.)
