Thanksgiving Day ... I absolutely love this time of year. I'll say what I always say ... and truly always mean ... this is my favorite time of year (till the ice melts on my beds of cheery pansies and cardinals begin to fly ... and that will be my favorite time till ... !)

Tomorrow I will beg out of the shopping frenzy ... I'm going to start Christmas decorating by stringing lights in the crepe Myrtle tree near our front door ... and I am going to hang a few discreet Christmas baubles out there too. This year, for likely the last year, I am going to create a door garland from evergreen and fresh Magnolia leaves. I do the whole thing with a hot glue gun and ... if I do say so myself, it is gorgeous! Tomorrow, Christmas begins. That used to be too early, but now ... I just go with it.

V did the "artwork" ... makes it very difficult to erase!

Today ... Thanksgiving. This is a super busy day for me. I've been practicing intentional thankfulness in preparation for today 'cause this is magic making day for me ... no time to spare for genuine thanks today! Yesterday I rounded up every little ingredient needed to cook this feast ... flowers arranged, crystal and china wiped and stacked ... silver, check. Turkey, picked up, and I cheated a little by roasting it last night and it is the best one ever! Gravy started ... cornbread made and veggies for dressing chopped ... for today vegetables and bread ... and pies are all that's on the before feast to-do. This morning I was up early making a fruit salad with whipped cream (let the naughty begin it seems) and something the girls asked for called monkey bread ... biscuits straight out of a roll/can, quartered, dipped in butter, dredged in cinnamon sugar and tossed in a cake pan to bake at 350 for 20 minutes ... Already done, sampled and here is my verdict ... super easy, sorta tasty, not worth the calories. Raspberries and star fruit festive addition to the fruit salad though. I have just a couple more minutes before I throw on a little glamour and re-tie the apron on over it ... later this morning I will trade my mug of tepid coffee in on a lovely glass of wine. Wine and lots of Turkey are on the diet today ... and my finger may just find it's way into the sweet potatoes!

Okay ... Now it's later and I have to note this: A cup of fresh cranberries, five pieces of candied ginger and 2T of sugar pulsed very fine in the food processor ... chill over night ... equal the yummiest cranberry relish ever (to my knowledge, lol) next time I'm going to add orange zests and if I was cooking for someone who loves them some calienté I would develop some zing with habaneros or maybe just jalepeños (and that would be pretty too).