Getting up before the crack of dawn
Cousins already awake, giggling in bed
The smell of fresh, chopped onions and celery sizzling in butter with a healthy sprinkling of sage
Coffee brewing to clear the head
Lists checked and double checked
A mountain of potatoes peeled
Tears over cut finger
Corn cooking in butter, cream cheese and chives
Cleaning defrosted Turkey, butter stuffed between her skin and breast, fresh ground salt and pepper rub before she’s placed in the roasting tin
Giblets and veg simmering for hours for the stock for gravy
Mammy arriving with pie shells then leaving for the airport to fetch more cousins
Three tables and 17 chairs squeezed into the kitchen
6 little cousins, showered, scrubbed, and shining snuggled on the couch watching a movie
Bowl like wine glasses, readied for the tables
The aroma of cinnamon & cloves beat into pumpkin
Pies baking in the oven
Crackers, cheeses and deep-red, spiced-plum chutney
More cousins arrive with a flurry of hyper-excitement
Heads of hair arranged
The smell of new clothes
With a foil-wrapped beast the turkey goes in the oven
9 children herded through the makeshift photography studio set up in the master bedroom
Three hours of portrait making
Papa arrives with Ziploc bags of American sweeties
The pleasant murmur and babble of adult-speak underlying the magnificent roar of child fun
Howling wind and rain beating against the windows, but no one cares - we’re all together inside, safe and warm
Tables set and beautifully decorated with gold cloths, candles, leaves, gourds, and Indian corn and sugared cranberries
Turkey carved, potatoes mashed
Stuffing tested for the 15th time
Pies on the pie table with a bowl of fresh-whipped-cinnamon-sprinkled cream
Cranberry sauce ladled into a pretty bowl
Sweet potatoes, pistachio pudding, broccoli salad
Gravy made from stock (and a little Jack Daniels)
Chairs scraping the floor as a family, more than tripled in 12 years, sits down to give thanks
Joining hands, we all know we are blessed…