Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving
I just talked to Mom on the phone and she reminded me that it's been about a week since I posted anything, so here it is. Thanksgiving was at my sister' home. Peg and I take turns hosting the holidays. This year she has Thanksgiving, I have Christmas, she has Easter and then I have Thanksgiving next year. Meanwhile the three brothers have parties in the summer and I have my fall river party. Sprinkled in between are special events such as graduations and birthdays. I am so blessed to have a family that enjoys each other's company. When I was in my early 30s, I had dinner for my family before we went to the theater. I didn't remember my roommate's remark, but my Mom did, "Does your family always have so much fun?" Yes, we do. What a legacy from my parents and grandparents.

The whole family usually goes for a long walk after we eat, but with several inches of wet snow on the ground, we had a raucous snowball fight. I was an observer along with my niece Jennifer, until we were walking back to the house and I nailed her with a snowball. She sputtered, "but, but I'm wearing a skirt!" and then proceeded to pummel her sister with snowballs. Jon, my 12-year- old great nephew, came in last, soaking wet and asked each person in turn, "Who was the super star today?" Of course, he was.

My contributions to the meal were homemade yeast rolls, our family's traditional cranberry nut bread, broccoli health salad (totally misleading name with the bacon and mayo), and my special spinach (baked in a bechamel sauce with onions and Parmesan cheese.) Last night I cooked noodles, added the leftover spinach and ham and baked it for dinner. Yum. Here's the cranberry bread recipe:

Cranberry Nut Bread
Sift together:
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Combine juice and zest of one orange, 2 tsp. melted butter and enough water
to make 3/4 cup all together. Add one well-beaten egg. Blend dry
ingredients and liquids just enough to dampen all.

Add 1/2 to 1 cup chopped nuts and 1 cup raw cranberries, washed, dried and
cut in half. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes.