Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. The combination of feeling thankful and great food is a good one! This year, I won’t be cooking but the NY Grandparents are planning to drive back down and celebrate with us. NY Grandma is a whiz at putting together a bunch of dishes and somehow making them hot all at the same time (an art I haven’t quite mastered). I think I can peel potatoes from the couch though!
So, what is a typical Thanksgiving menu at your house? We usually have the normal stuff plus a few interesting additions each year.
- Turkey
- Gravy – Growing up in the South, we ate giblet gravy. I can’t fathom making that but it was very good!
- Stuffing - I grew up eating “dressing” that was corn bread based. Now, we eat mostly stuffing because that is what Dave likes. Whole Foods makes delicious Thanksgiving stuffing. I did make a pan of dressing last year in addition to the stuffing.
- Mashed potatoes - This is not something I grew up eating at Thanksgiving but I would miss it now.
- Cranberry sauce – Try making it yourself this year. Super easy. I dissolve 1 cup sugar in 1 cup orange juice over low heat and then add a bag of fresh cranberries and cook about 10 minutes until they start popping. That’s it!
- Green bean casserole – The classic one with cream of mushroom soup and fried onions on top.
- Sweet potato casserole – My aunt is always in charge of the sweet potatoes. She makes this ridiculously amazing casserole with pecans and marshmallows and a crumb topping. Now I make it.
- Rolls – My mom always makes homemade rolls.
- Fruit salad – My mom also always makes fruit salad with grapes, oranges, bananas, and apples.
- Butternut squash – My mother-in-law introduced me to butternut squash and this is my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner. She mashes it with a little butter and sugar.
- Creamed onions – Tiny boiler onions in a cream sauce.
- Peas and mushrooms – Another aunt always makes peas and mushrooms in a cream sauce. I love that dish!
- Collard greens – Last year a friend brought over southern collard greens at Thanksgiving and I ate and ate and ate them!
- Green salad – I love salad and always like to have one on the table with a special dinner. Usually it gets overlooked in lieu of all the fattening stuff listed above but I eat it!
- Apple pie – Dave’s favorite! I don’t recall having apple pie as a kid. We mostly had pecan pie.
- Pumpkin pie – Not my favorite or Dave’s favorite but you have to have pumpkin pie, right?
- Sweet tea.
No wonder we feel a little sick after Thanksgiving dinner! Total gluttony. Maybe this year we ought to just stick with turkey and salad! 
(NY Grandma, you do not need to make all of the above! I was just listing out some of my favorites. And we can always do a bunch of Whole Foods side dishes!)
***
Carmen update: Last night Carmen’s heart rate was very low, in the 40s and 50s. Her temperature was 92. The nurse put two heating pads, fleece pants, long-sleeved T-shirt, fuzzy socks, mittens, a hat, and probably 6 blankets on Carmen. This morning, she swung the other way and now her heart rate is in the 140s and she seems to be brewing a fever. Besides the temperature fluctuations, Carmen is doing OK. I’ve heard that temperature fluctuations are a typical problem in Tay Sachs children because the brain stops being able to control temperature.
Baby Hope and me: Dave took me to the high risk doctor yesterday and everything appears stable. I am 27 1/2 weeks pregnant and hopefully will stay that way for a while! I will continue on strict bed rest with the Terbutaline pump and weekly doctor visits.
Please pray for our friend, Ada, today. She is having triple bypass surgery. She is my MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) mentor and a fabulous lady.
Thank you Dan for the delicious lasagna dinner!
YUM!!! I have wonderful memories of one Thanksgiving when Grace was dating Doug (NY Grandma and Grandpa), Grandma Brain asked Doug if he liked string beans and of course he said yes. He didn’t want to offend his soon to be mother-in-law. Well, every time Doug came to our house, my mother would make string beans and said that she made them just for Doug. After a few years of marriage to Grace, he finally revealed that he hated string beans. We all had a great laugh because my mother would always make everyones favorite dish for Thanksgiving. We would have every vegetable possible on the table. Mom didn’t make string beans for Doug after that. We all had so much fun with it.
Sorry to hear that Carmen is not doing to good today. We are praying for her.
Very gald that Hope is holding on and staying put. Praise the Lord.
We will be praying for your friend Ada.
Love you all.
I can attest that Grandma would do something like that. Every time I visited her house, she had a Mrs. Smith’s Apple Pie and vanilla ice cream in the freezer waiting for me.
We are praying for Carmen.
And that Hope stays put.
You mentioned my favorite things for Thanksgiving. That is quite a list! We always have pre-turkey dinner snacks (as if turkey dinner isn’t enough!) and I love the chips and dip, meat, cheese and crackers, vegetable tray, pickles, olives, pumpernikel bread with spreadable cheese, etc. It’s not the best for you, but it’s only once a year, right?
So glad you’ve made it to 27 1/2 weeks. We are praying Hope to wait until she is within a few weeks of being full term.
Sending love your way,
Debbie
I guess we need to add a few things to the list! We’re having an as-American-as-possible Thanksgiving dinner here in Switzerland, and I definitely wasn’t planning on having all of that! But now that you mention it…
Since we will be arriving VERY late Wednesday night, I am sincerely hoping you really don’t want everything on the list – - Otherwise, dinner will be VERY late on Thursday!!
:D
You left out Doug’s chocolate-pecan pie – - shall we skip it??
Well, Dave LOVES that pie!
Oh, yes, please make and bring a chocolate pecan pie…or two!
I thought dressing and stuffing were the same! I am having my last thanksgiving dinner as a Non-parent! My C-section is scheduled Nov. 27 and then I will have twin boys! Crazy!!! I pray that your pregnancy goes well. I pray for Carmen’s health too…
Boy, What time is dinner?
) I hope Carmen feels better and Hope stays put. I pray very much. God bless. In Christ, Joe
Yes, mashed potatoes are essential. I think I am the only one in Texas that makes them for Thanksgiving though. My husband thinks it is weird, although that doesn’t stop him from eating them. I make stuffing. He prefers cornbread dressing, but that is one sacrifice he has made for marrying a “Yankee”. LOL More importantly, I am so glad Hope is still comfortable inside.
Try adding the grated peel of an orange to the cranberry sauce as it cooks, and a handful of chopped walnuts after it is done. Yummy.
Congrats on 27 1/2 weeks! I read your post yesterday and I am still thinking of the Sweet Potato Casserole. Any chance of posting the recipe?
I posted it!
Off topic, but wanted to let you know that Matt and I are FINALLY doing devotions together every morning and we pray every day for Hope to stay put til at least 34 weeks. : )
Thank you Sarah!