A week of thanks

The holidays are upon us..sort of sneaked in while we weren't looking. This week is by far my favorite holiday...Thanksgiving. it is all about eating, drinking, football, socializing, and eating. No pressures. A day of gluttony. In a good way. I have many memorable Thanksgivings over the years thanks to my foodie parents and their crazy friends and family. My mother loves this holiday and it shows in her massive preparation of every side dish and pie known to man.
In the days where she lived in Annapolis in a small yet adequate duplex, our dinners were big and boisterous. It required 2 kitchens, as 2 turkeys were prepared while the plethera of side dishes were prepared. Let's talk about side dishes for a second. She has always opted for tradition-things that were on her table from her grandmother. That would include celery salad (which sits in a beautiful turkey shaped bowl and remains untouched by anyone's hands), mashed rutabagas (oh yeah, these are popular. Not.), creamed caulifower and pearl onions (I am on the fence about this one..its just a big white food), and cranberry sorbet (not thats a great idea...cleanse the palate for more eating). Since she married my father, she had many thanksgiving dinners with pigs feet and sauerkraut. We have nixed the pigs feet and I am ever so grateful. We kept the Baltimore tradition of sauerkraut and updated it to red cabbage. In fact , some dishes have been updated-rutabagas are now winter puree with carrots and parsnips. We added dried corn and brussel sprouts. There is now some green foods on the table to enhance the orange, brown, and white.
So, 2 kitchens to cook for 18. Once the dinner was served, it was time for after dinner apertifs. Which at this particular dinner ended up being consumed under the dining room table. One year as we prepared for dinner, we searched for the roasting pan that belonged to my great grandmother. We found it. On the back porch. With the carcass of last years turkey still in it.
Ahhh...another year. Bring it on.