Belated Thanksgiving wishes

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I know - I'm a day late. I need all the holidays to be like the Anglican version of Christmas. A twelve day spread gives you a lot of room to fudge things!

We had a lovely holiday here. We spent the morning installing a saddle rack at the new barn. Or rather, my husband installed it while the boys and I visited all the horses and enjoyed the fall leaves (we are just a week or so past peak color) and the unusually warm weather. And now I have a polished wood rack that collapses to save space. The joys of German craftsman husbands!

Afterwards we went home to prepare the feast. Some years ago I had set up an Election Day poll to teach my oldest son (then six or seven) about voting. Since it was early November, we voted on the main dish for Thanksgiving. It was so popular that it has now become a family tradition. Alan and I form the nominating committee that draws up the ballot. Nomination committe members have to be over the age of 30 so we don't end up having pizza and pasta for Thanksgiving. Sometimes we end up with the traditional turkey, but often it is something less common. The most consistent winner has been Cornish game hens, which are referred to in our family as TPCs (Tiny Personal Chickens). This year ham was a first-time winner.

I had never cooked a ham before. I figured it couldn't be hard, after all the thing is technically already cooked! And it was easy, but I sure did miscalculate when I bought it. A ten-pound turkey and a ten-pound ham are two very different things! Needless to say, we'll be looking for a lot of creative ham recipes. Or Emma is going to be a very happy dog.

I hope all my friends and customers had an equally good holiday (and a more reasonable level of leftovers). One of the things I listed as being thankful for was the chance to do what I most love for a living, and to do so surrounded by people whose company I enjoy and whose qualities I admire. Not enough people are so blessed. So thank you to all who make that possible for me.