it's now the day before turkey day and I have to clean another turkey and deliver it so they can cook it (thats a new one this year!) while mine is in the oven tomorrow - and I am not done baking - and where am I? watching babies sleep with a chihuahua jumping all over me because he wants me to play with him! then wake them, feed them, dress them, take them to school and head to the store for milk and then go home and bake until I pick them up from school -

somehow I need to live closer to them - driving back and forth to the city is taking too much time........................

wish I had another day to go before turkey day this year -

usually on t-day I never leave the house - tomorrow I have to deliver the turkey and then drive back there to bring the macaroni dish when that is done so they can have it hot and ready...............................THEN I can finish our meal and hopefully enjoy it

Oh how I miss Thanksgiving dinners at Grandma's house. Every Sunday meal was loaded with food, But Thanksgiving was an all day and night event. Chicken soup with tiny meatballs in it and homemade noodles. Homemade macaroni, all kinds of meat in the gravy, Homemade bread, antipasto with all kinds of Italian cold cuts, and if you were still hungry after all that, there was the turkey and all the traditional sides.

We stopped the traditional last year. We had steaks and baked potatoes. Don't know yet what we will have this year but will decide today. Probably drive to Bossier City and take my mother-in-law out to eat. My son would rather have burgers and watch the ball games anyway. I quess the magic is gone.

Every Sunday the entire family piled in on us - all they brought was their appetites. Alwasy homemade macaroni, and yes, tons of meats in gravy (sauce), large antipastos, relish trays, 30-lb. turekys, 20-lb. roasts, potatoes with brown gravy, veggies galore, tons of desserts and homemade breads, homemade candies, and you just cooked and ate all day long. You started your baking on Saturday morning and baked until after midnight.

This year it's just us. So it's toned down quite a bit. We're having turkey - I have a 14-lb. one, much smaller than years gone by. Mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, carrots, corn, peas, salad, homemade bread, bread stuffing, pumpkin pies (one regular and one vanilla), and homemade cheesecake. I'll clean and get their turkey ready (about the same size as ours) for their oven and make a large pot of homemade meat sauce and macaroni and I will send it to their house - more people there and they will eat it all up.

I don't mind all the cooking and cleaning up the mess - I enjoy seeing everyone enjoy everything.

But there was nothing like the past - those memories are all we have left now.

But Mama after all that cooking and fuss the whole meal is history in about 20 minutes. Then all the guys are watching the ball game. Oops gotta go the Saints are playing today. Have a great Thanksgiving guys.