keeping it simple during a busy few days

happy thanksgiving all my fellow american friends. if you are hosting today, i am especially smitten you are here for your few minutes of calm before the storm. perhaps your turkey is already in the oven, and your have a few minutes of downtime before the guests start arriving. i am not hosting, my 87 year old mother is hosting today. yup, you read that right, my mom is hosting thanksgiving. my mom’s favorite thing in the world is to have her whole family around her, serving them food, and listening to the conversations get more and more animated as the night goes on. my mom is an excellent host. what makes her an excellent host is nothing more than the fact that she loves it. every bit of it. the planning, the prep, the party, and even the clean up. she’s a natural. but even a consummate host cannot easily pull off thanksgiving for 20 at age 87. the 20 pound turkey alone, is impossible for her to handle. so, my brother and his family volunteered to make most of the meal for her (in her kitchen). my role was to buy the liquor, and the groceries, which we did yesterday. i was supposed to be on pie duty too (my usual role), but my newly married niece volunteered this year. so, my duties, other than guest, are already done. i will even have time to make a STILL photo before i head over to my mom’s at 2 pm. even though i am not hosting, it has been a busy few days. so this simple mountain ash leaf still holding onto its delicious color is all i could muster. happy thanksgiving all!

mountain ash leaf in late november