We go to my parents’ home, which is just 25 minutes away, on Thanksgiving. Our Thanksgiving meal is generally the same from year to year and that is the way we like it.

We have turkey with stuffing (yes, it is actually stuffing as it is stuffed inside the bird), ham (yes, both turkey and ham), mashed potatoes, noodles cooked in chicken broth and noodles cooked in ham juice, sweet potatoes (no marshmallows here), gravy, and rolls. Now we do have some other veggies. Our token vegetable is corn; notice that it is a starchy veggie? Our token salad is Dutch salad. This is made with hard boiled eggs, Miracle Whip Salad Dressing, evaporated milk, and sugar. I lovingly refer to this marvelous meal as our Starch Fest. But Oh! So Yummy!!!

Mom and Dad provide all the main meal. Mom makes most of it on her own. We help with the things that are not done early, namely mashed potatoes, corn, salad, noodles, and rolls. Mom even sets the table in advance. I think she does it because she got frustrated with us not being able to locate the proper dish and no one wants anyone, let alone chief cook, frustrated on Thanksgiving.

We girls bring the desserts. When we first decided that, I brought Pumpkin Bars, Pumpkin Pie, and Apple Crumble Pie. Over the years I found a wonderful Apple Cake that is a yummy breakfast food as well as dessert, so I make it and take it over too. My youngest sister, Tracie brings Oreo Pie by Jello and usually doughnuts. My middle sister, Sondra, makes banana pudding. The clincher here is that she makes two bowls, one with Nila Wafers and the other with ground graham crackers (which is the way Mom always made it).

When it comes to dessert on Thanksgiving I need the pudding because it’s a light dessert. There have been times that Sondra could not make it over on Thanksgiving and I was stuck without pudding. Thankfully Tracie came to the rescue and brought chocolate pudding! Yay Tracie! So now, she brings that frequently too.

Since I’m sharing things related to Thanksgiving this week and I don’t make any of these items until Wednesday, so that they are at their freshest, I don’t have any pictures to share of any of these lovely desserts . . . YET.   I will leave you with a link to a new dessert I am thinking of making very soon . . . copycat Marie Calendar’s Chocolate Satin Pie. I will warn you, in case you have a measured internet service, their site has several videos that load and one of them I cannot even find to mute it. When we try the pie and like it, I will share it here with any modifications I make.

I hope you enjoy the tastes of the holiday! Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

P.S. In the picture above, Tracie, her husband, and my parents have not yet sat down at the table, for whatever reason. My sweet daughter-in-love Lauren was out of town for work.   This will be the first year she is able to have Thanksgiving with our family. Oh and my hair is hideous – pre haircut!