It's almost Thanksgiving, y'all!

Yesterday morning we happily stumbled upon "Paula's Southern Thanksgiving" on the Food Network. Oh my goodness! Paula was in true artery-clogging form and everything looked delicious beyond words.

We're having a very small Thanksgiving this year, just myself, my sister Sheila and our mother. I bought the turkey and fixings last night. Since there's only 3 of us, I was looking at the smallest birds they had, at around 10 lbs, but they were practically emaciated and very bony. So I grabbed a 13-pounder. I'm the cook on Thanksgiving - it's a lot of work, but I really enjoy doing it. We do the standard dinner - turkey, mashed potatoes, a couple of vegetables, lots of gravy, a sausage stuffing, biscuits and a couple of pies (at least one pumpkin is mandatory). We'll have some appetizers, as well, and tune in to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, another tradition.

We usually eat pretty early, around 2:00 PM, which leaves the rest of the day to wallow in our gluttonous glory. Absolutely no football, though (unless we have guests who watch). Sacriligious, I know, but there you have it. There will probably be a viewing of a Christmas movie in the evening, maybe Elf or The Ref.

I'm fortunate and have a lovely four-day weekend since our office closes on Friday. I remember those days when we would be open and I wasn't able to take a vacation day because I had to cover for my boss, who always took that day off. Man, that was a bummer.