I never shared about our Thanksgiving as Ed and really relaxed after all the preparations were complete on Thursday. Then we hit the ground running on Friday and accomplished all kinds of things over the next two days.
It was such a great day full of lots of team effort, phone calls with loved ones, laughter with dear friends, and refreshment.
The highlight of Thanksgiving for The Thomas Troops, past being grateful to Jesus and the sweet friends God provided, was hands down, the Strawberry Surprise!
When I was growing up there were many years where our guest list included Nana and Nan Nan, Sarah and Shawn Johnson, and Carl and Jo Schlect. Jo would always bring two dishes: Squash Casserole and Strawberry Surprise. I loved the Squash Casserole and my sister loved the Strawberry Surprise. Now the early years of making a Christmas dinner were not very encouraging as my children didn't seem to like any of it. It's a lot of hard work for no little ones to like it. Eventually I dropped the Strawberry Surprise, but oh how it has been revived.
The last two years in DC we had the privilege of spending holidays with my sweet sister's family. So here comes the Strawberry Surprise as my sweet niece would bathe in the yummy delight if her mother would let her. My children fell in love and were sure that it would go wonderfully with Mexican food. I was happy to oblige.
Then the great debate began...side dish or dessert? My children were very concerned without Aunt Melly here on their side that they'd be waiting for hours. They came in with great giggles of delight Thanksgiving morning with an email from Aunt Melly. It was read to our friends as we gathered to discuss the logistics of our meal right before we stopped to thank God for our bounty.
Dear Caroline, Wyatt, Melanee Kate, and Jefferson,
This is really for your mother but I want to make sure that you read it first and hold her to it!!!
STRAWBERRY SURPRISE - This is a side dish. It is to be served WITH the meal and not as a dessert. It adds beautiful color to every plate and should be used during the meal and NOT after. If you wait until afterwards, you might be too full and won't be able to eat as much as you want. This dish gets better with each serving so please have at least two or three!!!!
If you mother won't adhere to these guidelines, come see Aunt Melly!! I'll let you have it for breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner AND dessert!
I love you and hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!
Love,
Aunt Melly
She rarely pulls rank on being, you know, being a whole 26 months older. I think every child should have an Aunt Melly.
As I finished up preparations I was tickled thinking about my menu and how it really spans across so many wonderful places and people: BB Paoli's salsa and tortillas (Italy), Doug Smith's guacomole (Montana), Stephanie Wheeler's refried beans (New Jersey), Eddie's fajita's (Montana), Susan Dunn's fudge pie (Lubbock, Texas), Darcie Newton's cranberry pecan pie (San Antonio, Texas) , and Dinah' ever changing apple pie (created and recreated from whatever I can remember year to year from what my dear Mother and Nana told me so many years ago). Oh and I use Theresa Odom's topping on my Apple Pie (knew and loved her in Italy, but was givin the recipe while we lived in Colorado). Emily Waters made more than her fair share of amazing food and her banana salad will be on my list in the future (Hawaii). This is such a small sampling of the friends and family for which we are thankful for...
Oh, and by the way, that Thursday we decided that Strawberry Surprise goes quite nicely with Mexican food! Notice that they were served right by the homemade tortilla's.
Love in Christ,
Dinah for The Troops
