Brenda



Thanksgiving at my house has been quite unusual for the last six years. My husband's family has always hosted all of the family celebrations since we first met fourteen years ago. When we purchased our first home I eagerly invited everyone to my house knowing full well that I could not cook. I had fifteen people coming to my home for a very festive time with no intention of cooking for them. My husband and I had the meal catored. We had ordered the ham already cooked, the mash potatoes, sweet potatoes, and even the pumpkin pie. I did decided that cooking the turkey would help the house to smell delicious, and at the age of 30 plus it was probably time to learn to cook one. So, our tradition of hosting a catored holiday was under way. We didn't share our secret for years. At first my mother-in-law came with a complete precooked meal. "Just in case," she said. Slowly she let go of the food control and thought I had learned to cook. It wasn't until the last Thanksgiving we would all share together that we "came clean". It was the BEST holiday of all times. The Lionetti family was mortified, and I was delighted that I had fooled them for so long. They weren't very kind about my fault of not knowing how to cook. I don't think many Italian girls would not have learned to cook growing up. The insults were sent regularly. Of course, I was pretty ok with most of it. I wasn't Italian. I continue to host Thanksgiving and each year I add to my repetoire of homemade dishes. I actually love my sweet potato casserole and have had people ask for my recipe.