Happy Thanksgiving

There's something about this true American holiday that I love, something about a holiday celebrating gratitude that gets to me in a true-blue, Bruce Springsteen kind of way. It really moves me, gathering with family and friends in gratitude.

Or maybe it's the food. This year we had a real feast. Traditional herb stuffing, plus stuffing with roasted red peppers, pine nuts, Kalamata olives and dried cranberries. Spicy green beans, vinegar Brussels sprouts, and roasted garlic mashed potatoes. Organic cranberry jelly. Sonoma valley pinot noir. And the Poppinses brought a delicious turkey - Nadine says it was her first time making turkey, but I don't believe her. It was too good.

Quite a spread, isn't it? The five of us made quite a dent in the food. That's five: Nadine, John, our neighbor Chikako, Josh, and me. Here's the parade of photos, with baby:



Justine was a delight, as usual - she smiled and cooed and babbled through dinner, and I think I detected some frustration from her about being too young to eat any of the food. We were lucky to have Chikako visiting, and she was a trooper - she ate the big Thanksgiving meal and then went to teach English all afternoon! It was sad to see her go.

So now we've had our meal and our pie, our friends have gone home, and I am POOPED. Josh cleaned up and we've got food for a week - I love Thanksgiving. Best wishes to you and yours.