Happy Thanksgiving 2011

We are in town every other year for Thanksgiving.  When we are in town, we generally host Thanksgiving for Damien's family!  It is a huge undertaking- but one we do with love and a lot of prep work!  I have always loved Thanksgiving.  Since I can remember, my Mom and Dad have hosted Thanksgiving.  I always took delight in watching my Grandma, Nana, and Mom in the kitchen working feverishly to prepare an amazing feast.  The smells of garlic, fresh herbs, a roasting turkey filled the air and got us all excited for the big event.

It is such a 180 degree change to now be hosting myself.  It is an honor, a big responsibility, but so rewarding.  We had thirty one people for dinner and were so happy that we were able to fit everyone comfortably in the front room.  Sometimes, hosting a party will get you in gear to do some odd jobs around the house.  We have been wanting to re-do our front room for years now.  It was just never a priority!  After much research and me smiling as big as I possibly could at Damien AT ALL TIMES, we did it and now I am in love with the room.  We refaced the brick fireplace with marble and had custom built-ins installed.  I just love, love, love the way it turned out!

I always set the tables for big events the night before (a tip from my Mom).  This enabled me to be able to sit with a cup of coffee Thanksgiving morning and watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with my kids.  We all just love it.  We especially love seeing the Rockettes and the kids can't wait to see Santa at the end!  It was a peaceful morning which was just what I needed.  Gina had spent the night so she took part in the lounging around.

When people ask me what it feels like to host Thanksgiving for this many people, I describe it like this.  All is well.  Things are in their place.  Turkey is in the oven.  However, it feels like you are swirling in a tornado from about an hour before the guests come until the minute they leave.  Do I love it?  Yes.  Is it crazy.  Yes.  Anyone who puts this holiday on (or hosts Christmas dinner) will agree with me.  As I said before, luckily the process is so rewarding.

The San Francisco 49ers were on this evening starting at 5:00 p.m. so we had to work the meal around that.  We had a really fun game 'Battle of the Brothers' (The Harborough brothers who are head coaches played each other) where you pick three squares in a grid of 100 to see if you can predict the scores of all the quarters of the game.  We also had a silly white elephant/raffle at the end of the night where everyone receives something Christmas themed and to represent the changing of the holiday.  At times, we were serenaded by Damien's cousin John F. and Kyle on the piano.  I think we were all jealous of their skills!

The food was great and I appreciated every one's help in the kitchen!  And I have to mention my clean up crew who worked themselves to the bone to make sure that things were back to normal as soon as the guests left.  I am pretty sure Gina was doing dishes for at least two hours straight, right?  So . . . thank you to everyone who came to celebrate, who helped in the kitchen, and who helped me restore my home after the chaos.   I couldn't have done it without you guys!  Can't wait to host Thanksgiving again!