Happy Thanksgivukkah!

Shalom and Howdy Pilgrims! It's that time of year again. A time to be Thankful for all of life's blessings: family, friends, health, running water, freedom, socks, our pets, wine, sunrises and sunsets and oh so many more things. The list is endless because pretty much everything is on it. We as human beings tend to take life for granted so this day is all about taking the time to enjoy it and reflect upon everything we have and have been given.  But this year there is a twist because for the first and only time, the first day of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving fall on the same day. Therefore making Thanksgiving + Hanukkah = Thanksgivukkah. How fun, right? It's a once in a lifetime Holiday because it will not happen again for 70,000 years! WOW! That in itself is something to be thankful for, so let the party begin because y'all know how we love parties.

Thanksgiving is Jenn's favorite Holiday and when she decides to have it at her house there can be anywhere from ten to one hundred people at one time. She has pulled off some pretty impressive get-togethers over the years. Everyone is invited: family, friends, friends of friends, pets, neighbors, and anyone who doesn't have a place to go. This year, however, happens to be on the smaller side with about ten people for dinner and seven people stopping by afterwards for drinks. We decided at the last minute to host it, so the sista wives have to kick it into gear. We started out making a shopping list and then went to the store to get all the items we needed. UGH! Grocery shopping two days before Thanksgiving is not a fun experience. Why? because everyone and their dog is out doing the exact same thing. The shelves are bare and people are grabbing the last of this and that instead of relinquishing it to the next person who needs the same ingredient. I mean, can you blame them? "Why sure sir, go ahead and take the very last can of pumpkin, I'll drive 20 minutes to the the next store and get another one. NOT!!!" Ha Ha Ha. Actually we had a pretty easy time of it, but we still ended up having to go to three different stores. We made it home with all the groceries, but we are betting we will have to run out again before the big day, because it's a given... we always forget to pick something up that we needed. It's cold outside and as we unload the groceries we decide we're in the mood for some Glühwein - which is hot spiced wine in German. This bottle came all the way from Switzerland, but we recently saw it at Cost Plus World Market and are super excited about that. We like to add a few extra little touches when simmering it on the stove - such as orange slices, cinnamon sticks, and mulling spices. It's delicious and the perfect way to start the evening.

We got down to business and started making dishes the day before Thanksgiving. We wanted everything to be prepared so that the next day all we had to do was pop it in the oven. Even with only ten people, we still had enough food for an army. Jenn doesn't know how to cook for only a few people. This curse was handed down to her by her Mother after many years of cooking for thirty-ish people every Thanksgiving. To this day, her Mother still makes a huge vat of her famous cornbread dressing (a recipe she inherited from her Dad who was a great cook) - that way there is always extra for everyone anticipating leftovers.

For appetizers we had cheese and crackers, a cream cheese, rosemary and cranberry dip, deviled eggs and bacon wrapped dates: half stuffed with blue cheese and the others stuffed with a balsamic, fig, goat cheese.

Richelle had a lot of fun making those dates. She pretty much cussed throughout the whole process. After stuffing an impressive one hundred and fifty dates, she decided they were too time consuming and would NOT be making that many again.  This year we decided to steer away from the traditional Thanksgiving food and opted for something a little different: the side dishes we made were a three onion sweet potato mash, roasted brussel sprouts with mushrooms, scalloped potatoes with garlic and Appenzeller Cheese and for the main coarse a delicious honey, thyme and garlic marinated pork loin with a cremini mushroom and red wine cream sauce. Cheese? Pork? This is so not kosher.

Jenn's mom stuck to the more traditional Thanksgiving fare and made cherry salad, potato salad, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, corn bread dressing and a Turkey with giblet gravy. So we actually had two very different Thanksgiving dinners (yes we know... all this for 10 people?).

Jenn also made her Mother-in-law's delicious homemade rolls from scratch. She was very proud as this was only the second year she has attempted them.

While the rolls were rising we were running around like crazy decorating and cleaning the house and trying to make it presentable for our guests. Remember, this was a last minute decision to host so it was a little hectic trying to get everything just right. Then it was time to make ourselves presentable as we were a sweaty, culinary mess...

Hopefully we clean up nicely

What about dessert? Well, as the folks in Jersey would say, "fuhgeddaboudit!" There was no way in hell we had time to bake anything so we did the next best, quickest thing we could think of and forked over some dough. Not the floury kind, but the green kind you need to purchase things. Thank God for Costco! We proudly bought a pumpkin pie, a pecan pie, and a pumpkin cheesecake. We didn't even try to pass them off as our own and were not one bit ashamed about feeding our guests store bought desserts, because they were absolutely delicious. In our eyes they were worth their weight in gold - we didn't have to do a thing but slice, serve and enjoy.

After all the guests arrived, we mingled about and were happy to see and hear that the conversations and cocktails were flowing. There was a very relaxed feel in the air and everyone was smiling and happy. This is exactly what this day is all about ... Togetherness. Being with family and friends this time of year is priceless and very special to us.

Everyone gathered around the table and held hands as Hubby gave the blessing - then it was time to fill our plates and sit down. Before we took the first bite, we all raised our glasses and toasted this special celebration. As the glasses clinked together and our laughter filled the air, it was as though we were listening to a feel-good song on the radio. The song was so uplifting that it made us want to turn it up ... way up - and we did. Mangia! Mangia! 

After dinner, Hubby cleared the table (quite impressively we might add) - Thank you Hubby! -

as everyone else sat around and continued the conversation which is what should happen. However, Richelle and Jenn seemed to be the only ones cleaning up. Hmmmm what's wrong with this picture? Not only did we shop, prepare, cook, and decorate but now we have to clean up afterwards too? Man, we are tired. This is not right. Someone please ask us if they can help? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? We should be sitting down with our feet up, relaxing, wine in hand, while engaged in the conversation. Example: "You worked so hard and the food was absolutely delicious (even if it wasn't). Is there anything we can do to help? Here, let me do that. You sit down and relax" - but instead, we are cleaning. As Richelle does the dishes, she shoots Jenn a pirate look as she growls "ARRRGH!"  

After all, it's every woman's dream NOT to have to clean up after cooking all day. So in order to fulfill our "Example Fantasy," we poured ourselves some more wine, told each other how great everything was and thanked each other for cleaning up. Don't get us wrong, we know people enjoyed it and we did hear many thank yous ... but we couldn't pass up the opportunity to emulate a Jewish Mother on this day where Thanksgiving and Hanukkah come together. Because we know, from our Jewish friends, that the job of a Jewish Mother is to "inflict guilt upon her children for actions which may have caused her to suffer" - and as we clean ALL BY OURSELVES, we are suffering! "Oye Vey!!" For those of you who don't know Yiddish, that is short for "Oh woe is me!!" Ha Ha - So Mazel Tov to us for laying on a pretty good guilt trip and Happy Thanksgivukkah to all!! CHEERS!!