Every Christmas my Mom has a classic emotional moment in which see says “girls, I think this is the best Christmas tree we have ever had” and my sister and I immediately start mocking her about the numerous years she has said it. This Thanksgiving we had a first – after a couple glasses of wine my Mom went into her typical family dinner fickle state and said “girls, I think this is the best Thanksgiving we’ve ever had.” And while we thought this was hilarious, there was some truth to it. This Thanksgiving may have been the best we have had in a long time. My Mom, Dad, sister Maggie and dogbrother Capt. Kirby all traveled to Mendenhall to spend three days doing lots of cooking, yard work, lounging and laughing. My Dad also lent a hand taking photos for this week’s blog posts.

For our Turkey Day Sans Turkey celebration, we had grilled racks of lamb, pommes anna, roasted brussel sprouts with mushrooms and fried shalots and finished it all off with an incredible chocolate pie with a cocoa nib praline. While you may be rolling your eyes at the lack of turkey and cranberry sauce in the spread – the odds are in your favor! This meal is a perfect holiday meal for friends and family this season. I’ll post the recipes this week.