THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays! The more the merrier is what I like to say. It wasn't until my Mom decided she wasn't hosting Thanksgiving at her house any longer that I realized how much work is involved. I truly love hosting this holiday (but I could do without the clean up.) When my husband and I were dating he took me to the house of one of his Jewish friends for Thanksgiving. They started their meal with Italian wedding soup which I thought was odd but it was delicious. I asked my husband who is 100% Italian if his Mom ever made that soup and he said no, this is the only time he ever gets to have the soup is when he stops into Pat and Jack's on Thanksgiving day. Needless to say, I learned how to make the soup and it wasn't until I started hosting Thanksgiving dinner that it became a tradition at our Thanksgiving dinner. The first year my parents weren't used to soup being the first course at Thanksgiving and they were afraid everything else was going to get cold but it all worked out and now everyone looks forward to the soup and that makes me happy. While we are eating the soup we each take turns telling what we are thankful for. I love to ask my kids every year what they look forward to eating the most on Thanksgiving day and they all say Italian wedding soup – after Nana's stuffing of course. What are some of your traditions?

Another Thanksgiving tradition is holiday pajamas on Thanksgiving night so they can wear them all December long and on Christmas day. My mom used to give us Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve so I just figured the girls would get more use out of them if they could wear them the entire month leading up to Christmas. I skipped the pajama giving one year because I was so busy I didn't get a chance to shop for them and I thought no one would notice but they were truly all disappointed. I never realized how much they enjoyed the pajamas. But now that I know this tradition is as special to them as it is to me, I make sure everyone gets a set of pajamas on Thanksgiving night.