Thanksgiving 2010

I still find myself thinking a lot about how much the holidays have changed for me over the last few years; the loss of Dad with whom I spent 41 Thanksgivings and Christmases; the loss of the family home where many of those Thanksgivings and most of those Christmases were spent. I have a new understanding of being thankful for being able to spend this Thanksgiving with Mom and Dale. Sadly, the shadings of this newer understanding are colored by the loss of my father.

In 2005 Dale and I started the tradition of cooking the turkey and cranberry sauce here at 4309 and then bringing it to Mom and Dad's. For Thanksgiving 2006, the Thanksgiving just before Dad died, we did the same thing. Dale, Mom and I celebrated Thanksgiving 2007 on Stevens Ave at Mom and Dad's house. Sadly, Dad was not with us. In 2008 we brought the turkey over over to Becky's house to celebrate with her and the boys as Sam was in Iraq. In 2009, Sam, Becky, and the boys were in Leavenworth, so we did the whole meal for the first time at our house with Mom joining us. With the just the three of us it was quite different than the Thanksgivings I remember at Grandma Lex's house in Two Harbors with 20 or so people but still just as fun and quite cozy at that!

That brings us to 2010. It'll be the three of us again. I got up this morning and had coffee while reading the holiday issue of Martha Stewart living (my own little Thanksgiving tradition). I watched a bit of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC but decided to turn in off when they brought the U.S. Pizza Team onto Rockefeller Plaza to toss pizza dough in the air. At this point I made the pumpkin pie and just pulled it out of the oven. It smells great. Here's the recipe I used:

Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

1 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish pie crust [I'll admit I didn't make my own crust but used a Pillsbury refrigerated one instead. Still very delicious.]

3/4 cup white sugar [I used C&H bakers sugar.]

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground gingerm [I used one full teaspoon]

1/4 teaspoon gound cloves [I used a heaping quarter teaspoon]

2 eggs

1 (15 ounce) can Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin

1 (12 fluid ounce) can Nestle Carnation Evaporated Milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Combine sugar, salt cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl. beat eggs lightly in large bowl. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell.

3. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 digrees F.; bake for 40 to 50 or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. [Note: I checked after 50 minutes and the knife did not come out clean. I checked at 55 minutes and the knife did not come out clean. The edges of the crust were not burning so I put it in for another 5. The knife STILL did not come out clean so I set the pie on a hot pad on the stove to cool. I seem to remember this is what happened last time I made this recipe.] Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. (Do not freeze as this will cause the crust to separate from the filling.)

Dale and I started warming up the oven for the turkey just after noon and opened a bottle of champagne. We made a toast to a Happy Thanksgiving.