Thanksgiving Wishes

It is 8:30 AM as I write, and I am relaxing, drinking my coffee. I know that many out there can’t say the same thing, as I received a 6 AM phone call to inquire “just what do you do with a leek?”. But I, dear friends, have decided to keep it simple. After all, we have much to be thankful for this year, and how can I reflect on that if I’m panicked about cooking a turkey and accompanying spread for a bunch of guests?


So our meal will be small but delicious. I’ve made Butternut Squash Soup, loosely based on the recipe from the Athens Farmer’s Market. It is autumn perfection in a bowl. I’ll be preparing an organic chicken with wild mushroom, shallot, and prosciutto stuffing – isn’t everything better with black trumpets and bacon? The kids will want peas, of course, and Jamie and I will have a spinach and apple salad with candied walnuts. Amelia is responsible for apple pie, as she was for the first time last year.

This, indubitably, is our greatest gift. Though we’ve rocketed over many a kidney-jarring bump this year, Amelia is here to make pie. Even better is that her limbs are intact, her brain is in original condition, and overall, her health is similar to what it was once upon a time. As she approaches maintenance treatment, her future appears a little more focused to us. Instead of the haze of the unknown, her doctor’s words to us when he diagnosed her – “she will grow up, she will go to college, and she will have kids” - have become a little easier to envision. Amelia says she wants to be a pediatric oncologist, and I have no doubt that she will achieve that, should she set her mind to it. Right now, though, we know that we can enjoy her apple pie for years to come, and that is enough.

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours.