Looking forward to Thanksgiving...

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving next week. Although I miss my parents more than I can tell you, and knowing we won't be together for yet another Thanksgiving and Christmas is difficult, there is still joy I feel about the holidays.

What I remember most about all the holidays we spent away from our family in Germany is the overwhelming sadness I knew my mother was feeling. No matter how happy our family was or how hard she tried not to let it show, there was always someone missing for my mom, and I knew it.

So here it is, another holiday season that reminds me of this and of my obligation now, to put aside missing my parents, to ensure that it doesn't take away from the holidays for the boys...

I cannot wait to have the boys home! I am planning my menu this week, and have very high expectations for what Martha says brining will do to make this turkey better than all the others I've ever put on the table. I'm going with a honey-based brining solution, so wish me luck!

Happy Thanksgiving!

"When I speak of home, I speak of the place where - in default of a better - those I love are gathered together; and if that place were a gypsy's tent, or a barn, I should call it by the same good name notwithstanding."

- Charles Dickens, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby