Oh you are the most delightful bunch! Caroline, I'm starting to think that I need to try Chocolate Cheesecake again. I've only had it once, and thought it was terrible! Maybe I got hold of a bad cook! Then again . . . I guess I really don't need another food on my "love it" list! Keesha, how wonderful that you're daughter will be home from London! (Mum's the word!) GGG, I've not had lentils since my flower-child days. Now that I'm actually making some effort to eat healthier I need to drag out some of the old recipes! MrMorton, Thanksgiving has been our traditional day to start the Christmas season too. I figure that it's too much work to go through just for a few weeks, and I love the decorations and lights etc. Memo, selfishly I'll be glad when the wonderful wedding is behind you . . . maybe we'll be see more of you around the C.G.! So glad to hear from you! Kent, I agree with Steven (even though I sadly have no idea who the writers are that he refers to!), but your post about your relatives and the traditional dishes was hilarious and you really should be paid. Annette, LOL at your DH and the brussels sprout! A drumroll please. FlowerLady, your meal sounds delicious. I'm ever thankful for your gracious presence around the cottage. Tracy, What a fun tradition! No doubt your run will be a piece of cake after hosting the Seed Swap! ThinMan, I hope you're really not going to make your brother wait until Thursday! lol! What lucky children to be living next door to wonderful grandparents (I should know, mine lived next door too!). Steven, I hope you'll be sending us a photo of you with your DuMOL pinot and expandable pants! Happy Thanksgiving to All, Patti

1. Do you have any special traditions you always do on Thanksgiving? * We always get up and turn on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on tv. I've watched it every year since I was a kid and love it. For me, (and now my family, too) it's the "official" start of our Thanksgiving and the holiday season. We watch it as we get our special T'Day family breakfast ready and, afterwards, while we get our part of the meal ready to take down to our friend's home for Tday dinner. As we make our breakfast together, we always toast the day with eggnog, another big tradition. 2, What special foods do you serve? * Our Thanksgiving Day dinner is always the same and we love it. Turkey with Oyster Stuffing; mashed potatoes & gravy; homemade (awesome, yeasty!) crescent rolls; candied yams; my cranberry orange relish; a fresh veggie tray with homemade Ranch dip & a cheese tray, as appetizers; condiment tray with various olives, pickles, etc; Caesar salad with Mandarin orange sections; pumpkin and pecan pies; mulled apple cider; wines and coffee. I've probably left something out, but that's basically been our dinner for the past 20-plus years. Gosh, I love this meal! All of the above are made from scratch by us, too. My friend is a home ec teacher and an incredible cook. 3, Do you still serve the dish people inwardly groan when they see, whether it is green bean casserole,candied yams, or something else, because "it just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without it"? * Nope, we all seem to love everything on our menu. 4. Do your family and guests dress up, or wear jeans? *We wear dressy casual clothes. 5. Visit, watch tv, go hunting (critters or retail goodies), what do you do in the afternoon? * We visit. The guys watch some of the football game(s). In the evening we sometimes play "Catch Phrase" or "Apples to Apples" 6. Host or guest? * Guest, as we host Christmas. These are our best friends and neither of us have any family here in state. But, this year both their kids are living in the Dallas area and their daughter and fiancee have bought a (huge) new home. They can't make it here and invited all of us to come and celebrate Thanksgiving there with them. We told our friends to go, but we aren't going ourselves. It's flu season and DH doesn't want to take more than Thursday thru Sunday off away from his patients. And, he HATES, HATES, HATES the thought of half of those days off being taken up with traveling on the two busiest/worst travel days of the year. (Sigh) So, we're celebrating by ourselves at home for the first time. It'll be festive, but different for us. 7. Do you eat at noon or dinner? * At our friends' home we eat around 2PM and then have a supper of the yummy leftovers around 7PM, but this year ~by ourselves~ we'll probably eat around 6PM and save our leftovers for the next day's dinner. 8. Do you have overnight house guests? *No Lynn

Thank you, Satine - and to you and yours. Yes, time for elastic waist pants, I think!

Once Ruby ate a plate of chocolate chip cookies. Her tummy was so full she could barely walk! The vet said she would be fine, just keep an eye on her and make sure "what went in came back out"...we had to make sure she wasn't bound up. Well. No worries about that ROFL! That night, her tummy was just a gurgling and she was very restless. I was starting to get worried as she was bloating. Two seconds before I would have gathered her up to take her to the emergency vet, she let out a toot so strong she kicked her back legs out!!!!!!! She felt much better after that. And yes. It smelled like fresh baked cookies. Dances.