Thanksgiving...early

My sister decided to celebrate Thanksgiving with the kids while I was still here. So we prepared a special dinner today and taught Maddie a little bit about being thankful. Honestly, I think the part about being thankful went over her head. After I listed half a dozen things I was grateful for (being with my family, having a wonderful meal in front of me, etc), Maddie mentioned one thing she didn't like. She seems to be in a phase of pointing out her dislikes, much to the chagrin of my sister.

Anyways, 2 weeks early, but it's the thought that counts. And as the Hsu family tradition goes, we had chicken instead of turkey. This brings back memories of my mom's cooking - I remember having chicken for many years, and then eventually switching to a full out chinese meal. My sister's reasoning was that a whole turkey for just 2 adults and 2 kids (Edo is out of town) was unnecessary. So she got a small roasted chicken - and it ended up not even half eaten. Perhaps because it was the only dish not homemade. The other dishes included stuffing (my sister's favorite), gravy, green beans, a baked yam and potato casserole (using swiss instead of mozzarella and an additional spoonful of pumpkin to the flour-broth mixture), and a fresh pumpkin pie (I roasted and pureed the fresh pumpkin yesterday) in a butter pie crust (I don't like to use shortening).

Maddie set the table, we lit some candles, and dug in. My belly ended up being about as big as Charlotte's (she is like a normal little person with a balloon for a belly). My sister and I were basically tag team cooking and taking care of the kids all day. She got a bit more done around the house since I zonked out with another headache in the afternoon. But by the end, we had ourselves a pleasant meal that will provide leftovers for tomorrow's lunch. I'm not sure the pumpkin pie will last very long though.