Bump down...

There will be 11 of us, our kids and their spouses and 2 grandsons and my sister and BIL. DS will bring the vegetable and desserts and DIL will bring her wonderful yeast rolls. I will roast a fresh turkey stuffed with sage dressing, candied sweet potatoes, twice baked potatoes, pumpkin bread, gravy, cranberry sauce and Glenda's corn pudding. If it isn't too warm in the afternoon, we will make mulled cider. Then at Christmas there will be only 5 of us with DD and DS celebrating with their in-laws. The day after our DD and her family will arrive for a belated Christmas and grandson's birthday. This year they will take her in-laws to a rented cabin in the mountains for their celebration. Hope it snows for them.

I started dieting in 1973, when I weighed 103 lb. Due to stress in my life, I stopped eating. I decided I would be perfect if my rear end wasn't so big. I wore a size 1, so I am not sure how big I thought it was. Anyway, as I dieted, over the next 40 years, I steadily gained weight. My top weight was 211 lb. I was on every diet you can think of, and some that I made up, and all it did was make me continually think about food, and gain weight. Finally, I quit. I ate whatever I wanted to eat, whenever I wanted to eat. I stopped anything artificially sweetened. It is amazing how quickly I lost weight. I went from a size 18 to a size 12. I could stand to lose a few more pounds, but I am comfortable where I am. If I lose, okay. If I don't, okay. So, no, I don't plan ahead about how much I am going to eat. If I stuff myself, I feel uncomfortable, so I eat until I feel satisfied. I have no idea how much I weigh. I know I lost weight after Jody died because I stopped cooking and ate mostly ice cream. I have gone back to cooking and gained a few pounds back....I can tell by the fit of my jeans, but over all, I stay about the same weight.

Nah, John, just determination and sticktuitiivity. It wasn't all on the day. I had made my pie crust dough a few days prior thinking I'd get it baked off and frozen early, but I didn't have time to peel the apples1 And it's an overnight thing, so I did the apples, finally, the night before, and before anything else in the morning rolled out, and baked off the pie. That worked well for having the oven warm (when off) all day, and quick to heat. I had to save the frying for day of because I wasn't able to clear enough space to store all the results, but I might have been able to recover from the fail if I'd done it before. The rest was just veggies and finishing stuff. Thanks, IC. I don't usually get to have flowers on the table for lack of space. Such a luxury! Upside to small parties. :) Thanks, too, PM for the compliment. JC's Pumpkin Gravy The great trick of this is that the initial cook is concentrated. The gravy is then thinned and blended before serving. Makes about a 4-6 cups depending on how thick or thin you make it. Ingredients 2 small to medium sized Sweetie Pie Pumpkins, Cut in half and roasted 3 TBSP Butter, salted (or not and season to taste), browned 2 TBSP Heavy cream about 2 inches Parmesan rind (or a tsp of grated parm) 3-4 oz Good vermouth (I used Noilly Prat Rouge) Seasoning to taste approx 1/2 c. Water, distilled or good tasting Drippings from roast (turkey or beef but maybe good with others) --------- For finishing, 1-3 cups liquid, to your druthers, milk/stock/water, any combo (I used about 2 c. whole milk). Allow extra liquid for loss on rewarming. (Half a cup more of stock would have been good.) Directions Cut the pumpkins in half-ish (don't bother with the stem),, lightly coat with oil and roast inside up until soft but not falling apart. The cut side should look dry. Cool, peel and clean out "pumpkin guts". Break up into chunks. Brown butter to a nice caramel color.. Add pumpkin and stir a lot, breaking it up more as it heats. Add the vermouth and parmesan rind. Keep stirring. Add enough water to loosen the pumpkin and help smooth it out. Add seasoning (if your roast is going to shed a lot of salt and other flavorings into drippings you're going to add, be careful here). Add cream. and stir well. When the mix begins to be very soft, remove from heat and remove the parm rind. Blend. An immersion blender is best for this. Chill. Before serving run through a high power blender or food mill to make really smooth. Add milk, stock and/or water as needed/desired, to thin it to desired consistency. Add drippings (to taste) and blend..