A delightful feast—even when it is very small…

My childhood Thanksgivings were sort of medium-sized affairs. But I wasn’t really aware of this because they seemed so large: the whole, multi-generational clan (which I am now aware was smaller than many clans) gathered at one of my grandparents’ homes (we alternated years). Since my own nuclear family was large, I had no reason to believe that one day many of my Thanksgivings would be tiny. But life is always a surprise.

Over the course of my adult life I have enjoyed Thanksgivings at tables both very small and very large. I love them both. I was not expecting to love the small ones. I wrote about one of them on my blog about ten years ago. As I look at that old post I realize now that that was not my first tiny Thanksgiving. It was the second. The first was about thirty years ago. It was maybe a year or two after my father had died…and my siblings all had other commitments and plans that year. So it was going to be just me and my mother. I remember that I had no expectation that I would really enjoy the day. But for me, not doing anything special to celebrate the holiday was out of the question. So I made plans for a pared down traditional meal. As the day approached, I discovered that a single friend was going to be alone, so I invited her to join us.

The meal and the day ended up being a delight. The meal for only three was indescribably easy to prepare compared to the kinds of knots people can twist themselves into trying to get a massive dinner on the table. We sat at that table long into the darkening afternoon just talking and enjoying the remains of the meal…and the peace and quiet of a late November day when we didn’t have to be anywhere…or do anything.

There have been a few more tiny Thanksgivings since. I always enjoy the luxury of preparing small amounts of the traditional items…and not having to prepare things I’m not crazy about (but that others expect). If you are facing a small Thanksgiving, I encourage you to celebrate. And that’s where this newsletter comes in. I had been cooking professionally for a few years when I prepared my first tiny Thanksgiving, so I didn’t have to go looking for appropriate recipes. I just cooked. Hopefully this newsletter will give you the tools to do the same.

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