Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.
My mom had 3 siblings, and when I was little Thanksgiving was "our" holiday, the one everyone came to us for.  Back then I liked the smells, the home made candy, the house full of cousins, and the shenanigans at the kids table.
Since coming to Pittsburgh I have adopted Thanksgiving for my own.  I love to cook and I love to eat the things I cook.  Thanksgiving is a gluttony of both.  Since being together, Dave and I have usually been joined by family and always by some friends.  Being cozied up in the warm house when it is cold outside adds another dimension to the celebration.
I remember the year when Dave's friend Chuck was here and it was too cold to do anything but lay around in our pajamas and drink champagne and watch TV documentaries the whole weekend.
There was the year my dad and Nancy came to visit and we played Dance Dance Revolution so aggressively and with such focus that we almost burned the turkey.
And of course Dave proposed to me on Thanksgiving.  To this day I am surprised I didn't vomit my meal all over him.
We have traditions.  Mimosas and bagels while I cook in the morning.  Pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin.  Chinese 5 spice turkey.  Mashed potatoes with enough dairy products to justify my own cow for the holiday.
This year things are going to be a little different.
This year Nate is old enough to eat with us.
This year the table will be dairy and egg free.

I have been struggling with the temptation to make "mommy food" and "nate food", a concept which he is already familiar with.  This weekend, however, Dave and I had a rude surprise.  Putting lotion on Nathan with a hand that had held a hard boiled egg resulted in a whole body rash.  Thankfully vomiting did not ensue.  It did clear up this mystery from earlier in the week:   We ate eggs.  Nathan did not.  Nathan got a rash, got hoarse, vomited.  None of us slept.  In retrospect, I am sure I touched his food with some invisible trace of incredible inedible egg on my fingers.
It's made me think about what is valuable about Thanksgiving.  And the answer is "time with the ones I love".  There will be only Nate food with the candles on the table.  He'll "cheers" with sparkling cider like I did when I was little.  Dave and I will be able to relax and forget about partitioning food.
The recipes will be new, and except for the turkey, vegan.
The house will be warm.  The friends will be good.
I will be deeply thankful, as always, for my boys.