To Grandmother's House We Go - Thanksgiving - Part II

It's Wednesday afternoon and I still haven't made it to the grocery store to get the ingredients for the six items I have to make for our Thanksgiving meal (turkey is not one of them). We always go to the Hottinger's for Thanksgiving, and then sometimes head to my parents in the early evening to eat yet AGAIN.

Thanksgiving Day is the only day of the year when my entire family - three daughters and my husband - are in the kitchen cooking with me. Each of them know their duties and are happy to contribute. I love having them beside me, cooking and listening to Christmas music and filling the house with wonderful aromas of pumpkin, sweet potatoes and sage. Our family is in charge of making "Grandma Georgia's Dressing". She was my husband's grandmother. What I love about it is that although she is no longer with us, we use her hand-written recipe, which somehow makes it seem like she is just around the corner, making sure we use a "heaping tablespoon of sage" in the dressing.

And I love having all of the Hottinger family in one house. It is a crazy place, I assure you. My husband has two sisters and between them and us, there are 11 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren. And of course we can't forget all the spouses and boy/girl friends. As I said, it is complete chaos, but one that I love to be a part of. Not everyone will be there this year, and I will miss each of them.

Thanksgiving always makes me miss my beloved grandma. She is the one who is responsible for my love of cooking. She always had a job for me in the kitchen and boy could she cook. One year though, she made my grandfather his very own dressing with oysters. But the problem was that she covered the dish with saran wrap prior to baking and was in a hurry and stuck it in the oven. Needless to say, he couldn't eat it.

When I lived and worked in Columbus, I would go over there for lunch and dinner a few times a week (after my grandfather died) and we would have the best conversations and of course good food. And whenever I would spend the night with her, in the morning I could count on teddy bear pancakes (even in my 20's) or her delicious waffles. I loved her very much.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and create some great memories with your friends and family.