(Actually, I’ve never had the actual ‘tofurky’ in place of the Thanksgiving turkey, but I have partaken of their various products. The faux Italian sausage is quite good with pasta.)
So yes, I am a vegetarian. I look forward to Thanksgiving nonetheless – my favorites were always the side dishes anyway. And, of course, the warm fuzzy spending time with family-ness of it all. It was a tricky holiday, though, once I started college. Air travel over the holiday can be nightmarish. And it never seemed to be enough time, especially with finals hanging over my head.
That hasn’t been an issue for a few years now, but from LA, the whole redeye flight/long weekend thing does throw you for a loop. Since Mike and I will see our families a lot over the next couple months anyway, I’m ultimately extremely relieved to be staying right where I am this Thanksgiving. It will be the first time I actually make some of the Thanksgiving goodies myself, as opposed to showing up in the kitchen, asking my mom if I can help and then mashing some potatoes or something marginal and then stuffing myself. My poor mom. It’s just so easy to go back to your parents’ house and revert to total childlike ‘feed me’ helplessness. But it’s good I am now forced to bake my own pie like the grown-up I actually am.
I for one will be making a sweet potato casserole and a chocolate pecan pie and bringing it to a friend’s. I actually do love baking (I’m the cupcake queen!), and I’m thrilled to actually have enough time to do it. Both are specialties of my mom’s, so I’m making my own tradition while actually just carrying hers on. Which is a warm fuzzy feeling in itself. :) Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!