Out with the Old

This year, we are casting aside all the old recipes we've been using for the past, oh, 15 years plus, and trying an all-new menu.

Mr Spandrel found most of it in a magazine, and it sounds delish.

There is much gnashing of teeth in my family over the change.

"No creamed corn?" my Mom asked incredulously, knowing that we will never hear the end of it from my Dad.

"Pilgrim Pizza?" my aunt asked (as I wondered what the hell that would involve).

"Are you making a corned beef and cabbage?" my Mother-in-law pondered. Um, no.

The last few years have gotten stale; we just want to mix it up a bit. Oh, my family groans when they hear about it, but what about tradition?

Just like Marge Simpson admonishing Lisa to "Get away from that Jazz Man!" they simply fear the unfamiliar.

It'll be more work for us, since everything's under wraps. So we're having more people bring the appetizers so as to further mix it up. (In years past, people brought a side dish to help out.)

But we are hopeful that it will make us look at Thanksgiving in a new light.

And just maybe it will inspire us to be thankful for more things than ever this year.