Thanksgiving Eve

I'm getting ready to start cooking for tomorrow. The house is quiet; no kids running around. No phone ringing. No thousand things to do to prepare. Just a few dishes that I know by heart. I've prepared these same Thanksgiving specialties around thirty times. I have them written down in my tattered recipe book, and for many years, I relied heavily upon those written recipes. Oh, I'll need to consult the book tonight to see exactly how much cinnamon to put in the cranberry salad, and I never remember exactly how much cloves to use. The oatmeal/brown sugar/butter crumble part of the cranberry sweet potato casserole still confuses me. And to be completely honest, I've probably only done the broccoli salad twenty-five times, so I still have to consult my notes about the dressing. But I know these dishes by heart. My family has been blessed to sit together every Thanksgiving and share a meal with very few exceptions since Marc's birth in 1975, soon followed by Adam and Morgan.  Tomorrow, we will come together as the quintessential Great American Family. We will be parents and children, we will be siblings, we will be spouses and former spouses, we will be grandparents and grandchildren, in-law's, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews. We will miss Edith, our most recently departed matriarch, who died in October, but I know that her presence will be palpable and her cooking sorely missed. I love my family so much and I feel so blessed to be able to spend this day with them all. I pray for all families everywhere and wish that they could know the love and the blessings that I do. And I hope that all of my family who have gone on know how much I miss them every day, but particularly tonight and tomorrow and in this holiday season. If only you could be here! I wish you could see the kids, and I wish you could meet Elaina! Happy Thanksgiving from one thankful woman...