Thankful

I love Thanksgiving. It is my favorite Holiday because it's so low pressure..just good food, lots of it, and spending quality time with the family. My one rule of thumb is that we have to keep the guests down to a number that we can still sit around our table, and eat from the "good" plates (that pretty much limits us to 12 people). Yesterday we had 11 around the table. I've hosted Thanksgiving for so many years that I've got my routine together, which also reduces the stress of it. And of course me and hubby love to cook. Our menu is pretty much the same traditional fare of turkey and trimmings from year to year, with some new additions or swaps based on whatever inspires us (this year's new thing was stuffed mushrooms for starters). A tradition is also to go around the table for everyone to say what they are thankful for.  However, this year we did that with a little twist. The kids had prepared paper slips cut in the shapes of leaves and painted pretty on one side. Everyone got one leaf and wrote on it what they were thankful. Then the leaves were handed out randomly and everyone got to read another person's note. It was very sweet and funny.