I think I finally figured out how a family tradition starts. Someone is given the same task to do (whether they wanted it or not), for the same holiday, which is done the same way each year, and it eventually becomes a tradition. Well one of the traditions I’ve inherited over the years is one I don’t mind… making the stuffing and cooking the turkey. Turkey and dressing are the quintessential food for Thanksgiving and Holly has completely relinquished the main course to me. Which is fine by me because that means she has more time to spend on her baking. Home made pumpkin pie anyone?

While turkey normally gets top billing as the main course for a Thanksgiving day dinner, it’s the stuffing that is the real winner. For as long as I can remember, stuffing was the Thanksgiving day dish I looked forward to the most. It would beat out turkey, salads, deserts or pie. Grandma Verly’s was always the best. It had just the right amount of salt, pepper and sage. The breadcrumbs were always mashed – never understood why you’d want lumpy stuffing. You just knew the gizzards added that right umphh to the taste. And of course it was made with enough butter to make you cry (cry for joy for how good it tasted).

So the tradition lives on. I spent the evening getting the turkey ready, crying over the chopped onions, cooking up the gizzards, mushing the breadcrumbs and spicing the whole thing until it’s just right. And like every year I make the stuffing, I use nearly every bowl, spatula, and pan in the house. I think Holly is beginning to wonder if that part of the tradition could be altered a little bit next year.  Then again she’s hinted at using fewer dishes for the last 8 years and nothing has really changed, so I doubt I’m going to start now.  Sorry honey. So here’s to the holiday season and all the traditions they bring – both the good and the bad!

Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends!