For many years Thanksgiving was, perhaps, my least favorite holiday. I usually had to go someplace I didn't want to go and be with people I didn't particularly want to be with...and NOT be with the people I REALLY wanted to be with.

Meals with my parents were not a great experience. That's when my mother would find something to start a fight with me about. Can't tell you how many meals were left uneaten (by me) when I either left the house to walk off my raging emotions or "locked" myself in my room with a book (or a notebook and pen). Plus, as a teen, probably to assert my independence and be contrary, I developed an aversion to fowl, especially turkey. I had an early history of eating a Mexican or oriental TV dinner alone and then reading, when I refused to go to relatives homes (usually with cousins much younger than me) for Thanksgiving.

Things are MUCH better now and a lot more enjoyable and it's not just because Tom is a great cook and I can truly enjoy his very traditional take on the Thanksgiving meal, but because we can share it with friend(s) who are more family than family.

Linn