Apple pie: check. Pumpkin pie: check. Pecan pie: check. Yeast rolls: check. Persimmon pudding: still in oven. Turkey: thawed and waiting. I know it’s thawed because it leaked blood all over the inside of the refrigerator and I had to take everything out and scrub it down. So that’s spotlessly clean now, too. Tomorrow: play obstetrician with said turkey, put three small peeled onions in the cavity, tie a roasting bag around it, put it in the 99-cent roasting pan, stick it in the oven, and forget about it for five hours, or until the little thingy pops up. Put huge pot of green beans on top of stove, throw in a diced onion and four strips of bacon, and simmer for hours until formerly crisp and healthy vegetables are Hoosierly mushy. Noon: put big pot of potatoes on to simmer, to drain and mash later, at the last minute. When turkey is done, remove from oven and scoop up a cup of broth, for the dressing. (Don’t stuff your turkey with dressing unless you like it soggy and possibly full of ick.) One hour before dinner: cook noodles, mix with cheese-laden white sauce and let bake a half hour. When all the guests are here, make the gravy. Re-heat the yeast rolls. Check table for salt, pepper, butter. Take one last look at the buffet spread out on the big kitchen bar; make sure sisters’ contributions have serving spoons. Hope someone brings ice, because there isn’t any in this house.

Say grace. Eat. Enjoy each other’s company. Talk about Christmas. Eat some more.

The end. Or will be.

How is your holiday shaping up tonight? Almost done?

Whatever your plans, whatever your beliefs, I want to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. The internet has turned this huge planet into a neighborhood of friendships, deep and lasting, and proof positive that we don’t have to know what people LOOK like, to know what people ARE like. I have found many wonderful friends via blogging; it’s amazing how close we have all become in just a few months’ time.

I am thankful for many things, and one of the biggest is all of YOU. Thank you, for being there, for finding me, and for being wonderful lovely people. Tiny Tim said it best: God bless you all, every one.

That’s from a Christmas dinner but the sentiment holds true every day of the year.

I just have to say it again: Thank you for being the lovely people that you are.