Weenies in a blanket :)

Soo, tomorrow is Thanksgiving. YAY, turkey. I figured I'd take a moment to reflect, cuz this year is MUCH diff than my Thanksgiving's of old.

And, know what? I'm likin' it :)

Here's why. When I was married, I rivaled Martha Stewart. I did. Honest. I really was a GOOD wife. If nothing else, I was a good hostess. I'm really adept at cocktail/dinner parties. We used to host our neighborhood parties every year for Xmas. It's one of the things I proudly put in my "Dakota's can do" box. Pathetic, yes? LOL. However, I love people and I loved having them over. I didn't much love the kind of planning it took to pull it all off.

I don't miss that at all.

I spent gazoodles of hours, weeks in advance planning, making lists, planning and making more lists to prepare for Thanksgiving and trying to top the one I'd done prior. I always had a theme, be it rustic or glitzy, every single dish I prepared, all of my place settings, had a theme.

One year it was rustic, with lots of nature like stuff. Ya know, twigs and dried berries and fruit and leaves and stuff adorned my tables and entryways. One year I did a pretty glitzy be-ribboned in fall colors, affair. I had all sorts of glittery crap and fancy napkins that I made out of shiny, yet absorbent material. Gourds I'd rolled in glitter and crap for baskets.

I made appetizers for days, freezing them, thawing them, cooking them. Pates and cheeses and wines and all sorts of breads ect. All bread I baked. All cheese I all but churned in the backyard myself.

I cooked a turkey in many different ways. One year it was marinated in a brine -- the next I cooked it with all this crazy herb stuff you slather on it. I candied yams, I mashed, sliced, diced, bedecked and chopped.

My desserts were traditional, but I always made cookies and fudge and all sorts of petit fours and pies.

We had plenty of people over. It was a dinner party extraordinaire. I, being the now fried hostess who always managed to look like it was just a little something she'd whipped up while painting her nails.

Yeah, that was me. Snort.

Know what I'm doing this year? My menu?

Turkey--stuffing--mashed potatoes--corn--dinner rolls (from a package. Hear that gasp from the ex? LOL). Some weenies in a blanket, minus the pretty tooth picks, chips and dip, cheese and crackers. Cheese that was pre-cut (oh, if you could have heard my scream of joy over that) and some summer sausage. Chocolate silk pie that's made from a Jell-O mix. Not the kind that I melt over a double boiler while I stir endlessly and some pumpkin pie from Walmart in again, a package :)

I love to entertain, don't get me wrong, but the entertaining was more of a show than a gathering of people who just wanted to hang out. It was about pretense and smiling pretty. It was about my ankles aching from my heels. it was about making sure everything was perfect. It was about me cooking until my fingers ached and my head spun, only to sit down and realize, I just wasn't that hungry. LOLLOL

This year, R is coming over. My mom and Dad are going out to eat because my dad said, "Princess, I've always wanted to eat out on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Your young man will be over and I'd like to see you spend some time with him. Will it hurt your feelings if we're not there?" To which I said, "Wow, daddy, will I be hurt that you and mom won't be hurling daggers of death via your eyeballs at each other while Uncle Harry cackles in a corner at my ass? Nah, I'm good to go." LOLLOL. No, I didn't say that, but my folks aren't huge holiday folks anwyay, so I'm good and I told my dad it was kinda fun and adventurous to brave someone else's turkey in a restaurant.

So it'll just be my sons and R and ME. That's it.

I feel like I've been set free from a prison I didn't know I was locked up in. I'm telling you, had Martha and I been in the pokey together, I'd have given her a run for her money when it came to sheet tying as an art form. LOLLOL

Nonetheless, I feel SO good this year. Last year is kinda a blur. I think mom cooked while I wrote through a deadline, only to briefly stop and cram some turkey down my throat.

Anyway, I've spent most of today just chilling out and reminiscing about how much I don't miss doing all the crazy picture perfect stuff I used to.

As a matter of fact, my youngest said this morning, "Gee, ma, you look really happy today. Usually you're kinda stressed out and freaking on the day before Thanksgiving." I smiled and said, "Yeah, I usually am, but you know what? Not so much anymore. I'm just happy everyone is healthy and life is good and I don't need a turkey I marinated in beer and kosher salt for six days to say otherwise."

I am indeed thankful this year for many, many things, most of which I've blogged about all damn summer long and well into the fall :)

I don't feel like I have to go all out to impress R with my cooking, or dress to the nines while I do it. I'm a pretty good cook, so I'm going to count on that for tomorrow. I figure if I do something like burn the turkey, something I've never done before, then we can go to the I-Hop. LOLLOL.

So, from my heart to yours, here's wishing you a stress free, bountifully blessed day, filled with the love of family, friends and a good weenie in a blanket. LOL

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dakota :)