It is Thanksgiving morning and the preparations are well under way. Every dish is a reminder of how much we have to be thankful for.

The turkey has been in the brine since yesterday morning, this is Tricia’s one day a year for turkey, but I have never had better, she does it so well. The brine has apples, rosemary, herbs, mustard seed, fennel seed, onion, cranberries, a bottle of white wine, and probably a lot I am forgetting. Then she will put herbed butter under the skin.

Don’t overcook your turkey, 163F is perfect. The days of cooking turkey for 5 hours like they did generations ago are gone, it only dries it out. If gravy is the only way you can swallow the turkey it is overcooked, it should be juicy and flavorful.

I baked skillet cornbread for individual puddings that will be stuffed with collard greens. We boiled and mashed the potatoes that will be used for a potato casserole with a parmesan-butter-breadcrumb crumble.

Tricia made her fabulous cranberry sauce, none of that canned jellied stuff, her’s is cooked like you would jam, with Chambord Liqueur added.

We picked out a bottle of a 2010 D’Alfonso-Curran Pinot Noir from Sta. Rita Hills, California.

I think someone is bringing pumpkin pie, but desert is never high on my priority list so I am not sure.

So all that is left is a bit more cleaning – windows in the dinning room, mop the floor, blow the leaves off the driveway – then it is down to the final prep.

Wherever this day finds you and however you celebrate, alone or with others, take a moment to be grateful for all that you have. I am reminded of the Psalm, “He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” Even when life is hard there is much to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving from theWinsketcher.