Photo: Chronica Domus
It seems like it was just yesterday when I think back to who was sitting with us at our dining table last Thanksgiving, partaking in our annual celebratory Dinner For Waifs and Strays. Today, my family and I feel privileged that our merry little group has again reunited to give thanks and to count our blessings.
This year, a few of our strays have indeed strayed, to lands afar, and will be missed but not forgotten. Another is spending the day with an elderly friend who, due to a crippling illness, might have otherwise been alone. We shall miss his generous spirit but will make sure to raise a glass to him today.
Photo: Chronica Domus
As my life ebbs and flows, either zipping by faster than I'd like it to, or plodding along at a snail's pace, I make a conscious effort to take the time and appreciate all that I am surrounded by; my family, my friends both near and far, my beloved formerly feral feline friend, Norton, my good health and sound mind. I suppose a day like today, Thanksgiving, is the culmination of it all. To have an opportunity of sharing in the good fellowship of our jolly dining companions is yet another reason to give thanks.
Now that the table is set, I'm off to the kitchen to put the turkey in the oven
Photo: Chronica Domus
I hope that you too, no matter your circumstances and wherever you might find yourself today, have something to be thankful for.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
CD
Hello CD, Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, also. I was just recalling how in my last house in Cleveland (the haunted Moreland Hills house, in fact!), I used to give the annual thanksgiving dinner. In addition to family, I invited all the foreign graduate students who had no family there, so it was quite a mixed gathering. It exceeded the capacity of my dining room, but luckily the dining room merged into the living room in an "I" shape, meaning that extra tables could be set up down the line, and no one felt excluded or put off to the side.
ReplyDeleteI love your sheaf of wheat, emblematic of the season's bountiful harvest. It looks great on old silver, and now we see how beautiful and inviting it looks in person!
--Jim
Hello Jim,
DeleteI bet your Thanksgiving dinners were the talk of the town, what with your generous spirit at the helm and the mixed crowd. I recall one of our gatherings with extra card tables set up (tablecloths and all!), and the excitement of trying to get everyone seated and fed at the same time. A swell time was had by all!
By the way the wheat was a big hit with our guests but, would you believe, I forgot to use my little wheat sheaf spoon I found last year at the antiques fair. There's always next year I suppose.
Happy (late) Thanksgiving to you, Jim.
Happy Thanksgiving. Things look calm and lovely at your house. Enjoy the day!
ReplyDeleteHello Jen,
DeleteHappy (late) Thanksgiving to you too.
I did much of the preparation for our dinner on Wednesday which left me with some time to relax before the big event yesterday afternoon.
Happy Thanksgiving CD! I'm just off the phone with my friend who lives in Charleston over the winter, she's had a kale and sweet potato salad and is enjoying a cozy evening in alone. Meanwhile in Atlanta my Dad has been wrapping everything in bacon all day, a feast I couldn't take part in but I would still really love to be there for the wine and the atmosphere. We can never manage to get there as it is not our holiday (sadly) and my husband and kids are always so busy this time of year.
ReplyDeleteYours looks lovely. The sheaf of wheat in that exquisite platinum ribbon, be still my heart. Enjoy the day and evening and the start of the season. XX
Hello Dani BP,
DeleteThank you for your good wishes, Dani. Thanksgiving took me a few years to cotton onto as we don't have a dedicated day of thanks in the UK, but I love the concept of setting aside time to count one's blessings and enjoy a fest with family and friends. It has become my favorite of holidays now (aside from Christmas, of course).
So pleased you enjoyed the wheat sheaf tarted up in its festive ribbon.
So many things to be thankful for!
ReplyDeleteIndeed, there is.
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving to you also!
Happy thanksgiving CD!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Naomi. A fun time was had by all.
DeleteDear CD
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
Spud
Thank you, dear Spud. It certainly was an enjoyable time.
DeleteI am sure your Thanksgiving dinner was as memorable as last year's. For the second year in a row, we joined friends who hosted a crowd of 23 including 12 visiting Chinese scholars on a one year visa studying in the US. None of them had experienced the Thanksgiving experience nor eaten a turkey before. I helped our hostess by roasting a second bird, making gravy and contributing a ham as well. It was a festive event for all with our Chinese visitors eagerly posing ( Group and individual shots) next to the bronzed turkey for photos. I firmly believe breaking bread and sharing our bounty with guests from other lands is a form of diplomacy in perhaps the nicest and most enjoyable sense.
ReplyDeleteBlessings to you and yours this Thanksgiving weekend. Does Norton like turkey?
Best,
KL Gaylin
Hello KL Gaylin, and a belated Happy Thanksgiving to you!
DeleteWell, that sounds like quite a day spent in the company of a generous hostess and her visiting guests from both near and afar. I'm sure the Chinese scholars enjoyed the experience of sharing a communal meal during such a uniquely American holiday as Thanksgiving. I hope they enjoyed the taste of the turkey (I can only imaine the look on their faces on first bite!). Oh, and yes, Norton and his fellow outdoor feral friends had a swell time dining on a fest of leftover turkey meat. I could hear them smacking their lips as they ate.
This is a comment from racheld which landed in my email box instead of the comments section:
ReplyDeleteA sunny good morning to you WAY out there in California! It's 9:40 here, so I think you just MIGHT be still sleeping, but having read your posts about all there is to do on a Saturday morning---farm stands and markets and delightful flea-and-antiques displays---you could be out there already, as I sit here in this quiet house---Caro already at work long ago amongst the sweet vanilla-nutmeg-spice-chocolate scents of the bakery where she's icing a special order of cookies today, along with several special cakes to begin the long, sweet season.
Chris is still sleeping, for we both finally let down enough to get the New York sniffles which we'd encountered from our sweet Baby Girl and various Subway and street passersby. We had a very quiet little Thanksgiving day here at home, with our other Kiddos in town called away at various other celebrations for three days. We just raided pantries and freezers and various stashes of exotic sweets and chocolates and dates which are beginning to arrive from the Great Provider, Amazon. We did not SHOP for a single item for the Thanksgiving table---they all just fell to hand as we greeted each little treasure with glad appreciation and sometimes little shouts upstairs and down.
So, a starter of just-baked Crab Gratin with pita chips, made with all the dainty little claws saved from the crab cakes made the night before, then a lovely pan of what Chris calls "Chicken Frickashay," some quick-pickled green beans and golden peppers and onion and grape tomatoes, a soft-caramelly corn pudding, various bits and bobs of green things--baby romaine and celery hearts and small broccoli florets, with a bleu cheese dip, and a good old Southern dish of Watergate "salad"---that gooey, creamy odd concoction of crushed pineapple, dry instant Pistachio pudding stirred in, then Kool-Whip, then half a bag of tiny marshmallows, to make the cloud-perfect sump'n-nother that is its glorious, humble, odd self. No vaunted dish of Riz Imperatrice was ever greeted with as much accord as that pale green mass of calories, set down at a Church Supper.
So loved your beautiful quiet setting, with the graceful wheat and the muted colours of other ages---somehow Federal and Ancient Roman, with the pale golds and shining woods and china from another time. You could have served pheasant or a steaming Joint, or have pulled six shining flat Swanson's from the oven, and it would have been a triumph.
Must go---Chris is awake, and who knows what conversation and kitchen finds and little outings into the day will arise. Best of weekend adventures to you, as well!!
Hello racheld,
DeleteI am sorry you've had such trouble commenting here on Chronica Domus lately but I thank you for your email comment, which I've gone ahead and published here. Please do persevere in your commenting attempts as I am certain whatever it was that was preventing you from doing so has now been rectified.
A very happy (belated) Thanksgiving to you.