I love to cook. And sometimes I even entertain large groups of people. Hmm, what large group of people might I know? Oh yes, my extended family!

My parents got married on 11/25/1954. That was also Thanksgiving day. They had Thanksgiving dinner for all of their guests. There were a lot of guests.

2004 was my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. It landed on Thanksgiving that year. They had one request, “We don’t want to host or cook on our 50th anniversary.” So I told them that I would take over that responsibility for not only 2004 but for the years following. And I did just what I promised for seven years.

In 2012 I was diagnosed with breast cancer. And in November of 2012, I took my parents up on their offer to host Thanksgiving again JUST FOR THAT YEAR. It was a wonderful celebration and I so appreciated their generosity.

It is now 2013. I am really excited about taking Thanksgiving back! I have so much for which to be thankful. And as an extra added bonus, Thanksgiving is late this year, which means that it is not so close to my birthday, as it normally is.

I have started reviewing recipes. I have started thinking about baking fruit pies. I am not much of a dessert baker except for two things. I make excellent fruit pies as well as a mighty fine chocolate cookie. My mom is more of a sweets maker. I am into savory. I make turkey with cognac gravy. Mashed potatoes with caramelized shallots. I make Brussels sprouts that make cabbage haters weep with joy. (Okay, SLIGHT exaggeration. My sprouts are darned good.) My stuffing is so good and this will be the first year that I will have to skip it because of the whole wheat allergy thing.

My mom has emailed me, not once but twice, suggesting that she take over Thanksgiving for this year. My mom is not a control freak. She is sincerely trying to be helpful. The first time she asked, I thought she had read my post about financial stresses related to breast cancer treatment. She had not read it and I just told her that I appreciated the offer but that I was really looking forward to putting on Thanksgiving this year.

Then Mom actually did read the post and asked again, if it would make more sense for her to host Thanksgiving. I again, gave a gracious, “no thank you.”

I really want to host Thanksgiving. Mom, if you start worrying again, look at the title of this post! xoxoxo.