The holidays have officially begun!

Thanksgiving marks the official beginning of the holiday season, and if our Thanksgiving is any indication of how our holidays will be…we are in for a delightful holiday season! This year, we had planned to have a quiet Thanksgiving at home…just the three of us, but then the family of one of our daughter’s friends invited us to join them!

My daughter and I returned from vacation Wednesday night. After a four hour flight home, I ran a few errands and unpacked one of my two bags before watching a recorded episode of The Young and The Restless (Chance Chancellor is alive!) and crawling into bed. It’s the flight that makes me tired. I just can’t sleep on the plane, so all that time just sitting makes me weary.

But I awoke bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on Thanksgiving morning, because I got plenty of sleep. We weren’t due at the friends’ house till five in the afternoon, so I had plenty of recovery time…time to catch up with some friends and family by phone (after the vacation) and time to put together the only thing we were contributing to the meal…a buttermilk pie for dessert. (I will post the recipe at the end, if you’re interested.)

I have written before about Thanksgiving and how it’s not my favorite holiday. I have always thought it was overrated. I have several friends who say Thanksgiving is their favorite holiday (Maureen, I’m looking at you), but I’ve never felt the same way. However, after yesterday, I had a change of heart. I realized we just weren’t doing it right! Yep…I no longer think Thanksgiving is overrated, because we had a great time with our new friends! We talked, we laughed, we dined…and I even enjoyed the turkey! Just like I’ve always thought Thanksgiving is overrated, I’ve felt the same about turkey, but I must have been eating the wrong turkey, because last night, our hostess prepared a delicious turkey…and our daughter’s very favorite macaroni and cheese.

In fact, the macaroni and cheese was one of the topics of conversation. Our daughter has never eaten macaroni and cheese…no matter how hard I tried to get her to eat it over the years, she would always put her foot down and refuse. But one night, she came home from this friend’s house and declared that she loved his mom’s macaroni and cheese! A breakthrough! After that, I offered to make macaroni and cheese for dinner, and she informed me that the only mac and cheese she likes is the friend’s mom’s mac and cheese. After having it last night, I understand…the mac and cheese was divine! In fact, everything was great…especially the company!

So I no longer think Thanksgiving is overrated. At the age of 54, I have discovered that Thanksgiving is fun! I think it’s a time to bring people together. I think it’s a time we should all count our blessings…no matter how big or how small. Yes, I still believe we should all be thankful all year. I think we should spend time with people we love and make new friends all year. I think we should enjoy life all year. But Thanksgiving is a reminder…it’s a gentle reminder that life is what we make it…so make it good.

Now, let’s get these holidays underway! Let’s drag the Christmas decorations down from the attic and sing Christmas carols while we decorate! And let’s make lots of new friends!

***Buttermilk Pie Recipe***

Ingredients:

• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tblspns plain flour
• 1 stick melted butter, slightly cooled
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 tspsns real vanilla extract
• 1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell

Topping ingredients:

• 1/2 cup seedless blackberry preserves
• 1 tblspn Chamborde liqueur
• OR you can use any fruit reduction

Directions: Beat eggs slightly. Mix sugar and flour well and add to eggs. Mix until creamy. Add melted butter, mixing well. Add buttermilk and flavoring. Pour into pie shell and bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour until custard is set.

Topping Directions: Put preserves in saucepan and warm on medium heat, stirring constantly with wire whip until smooth. Remove from heat and add Chamborde. Let cool to lukewarm and serve over warm pie.