Happy THanksgiving!

Katie hard at work perfecting her sweet potatoes!!! I'm sure she had no idea that someday this picture would end up on the internet!! Please ignore the hand vac in the background.

Since it is Thanksgiving weekend, I thought I would make a new post about the holiday. Thanksgiving dinner is my favorite meal to cook every year. For me, its an event. And being able to cook with my wife was a true blessing these past few years. I loved being in the kitchen with Katie. We really enjoyed cooking together and we made a really good team. We both loved to entertain which I think helped, and she was more of a perfectionist than I was! So when we cooked, it all just clicked. Plus, she was our mixologist, always creating something fun and delicious for us to enjoy while we cooked and then dined. It was her specialty.

The picture above is from last years Thanksgiving. Katie was prepping her sweet potatoes and in her super cute comfy cozy holiday outfit. I had to get a picture! Before I met her I usually had cooked Thanksgiving dinner (mostly) on my own. But the last few years with her we did it together, and it was fabulous! The whole day was special.

(Sidenote on the picture. Katie was diagnosed with her more aggressive form of cancer in October. By mid November she was at least two sessions into her aggressive chemo. And one of the side effects, as we all know, is hair loss. Well, it happened to her too. But before it got bad, she had me cut her all of her hair off. It was kind of like that scene in GI Jane. It broke my heart to do it but it was her way of staying in control of her body, and I was honored to do it. She had the most beautiful, soft, blonde hair so it was hard to see it go, but boy was she beautiful with no hair. Just stunning. When she was up and about, she would wear various caps and coverings to keep her fuzzy little head warm. I always found them to be super cute and adorable. In the end she never lost all of her hair. She did lose a good amount, but not all of it. And by the early part of the new year, it was already starting to grow back. The cap she is wearing in this picture is one of my favorites as it feels like it belongs with the holidays)

Funny story,.. she grew up on stovetop stuffing. I've never had it. My family always made stuffing from scratch. I didn't eat stuffing growing up. I just never liked it. But as an adult I grew to love it, and like my family, I always made it from scratch. Katie loved the stuffing I made, but mentioned how she missed her stovetop stuffing. So, she recently bought a bag of stove top stuffing to make sometime. I told her I would try it. Sadly we never were able to make it together and try it. But I still have the bag of stuffing in the pantry. I can't part with it, at least not yet. Silly, I know. But still, I can't. Maybe I'll make it sometime. Maybe not. Who knows. But for now the pantry is where it will stay.

While this Thanksgiving was different, and exceptionally hard. I got thru it, with the support of my family. But mostly because Katie was here, with me the whole time. And while she may not have cooked this year, she definitely gave it her magic touch, as I think it was the best meal I've ever made on this holiday. And I believe its all because of her.

I hope the rest of you were able to spend the holiday with those you love and cherish. Life is too short not to. Until my next post.. Happy Thanksgiving.