As I put the turkey into the water bath to defrost this morning, I thought of my moms. Yes, I said moms; I have two. Nancy is my mom and Elaine is my aunt. They are identical twins and all of my life we have lived close to my aunt’s family and have spent all our important holidays together. These two have been my role models for many things, but most frequently, cooking and hosting. So a holiday like Thanksgiving comes around, and it is their advice I look for and help I request. I am lucky enough to still have these two beauties around to offer opinions and recipes–along with plenty of smart remarks and stories to make my stresses feel managable. This year I was stressing about not having my turkey defrosted soon enough, and Mom told me one year they got some unexpected guests at the last minute and had to defrost an additional bird in the dishwasher. Yes!, Elaine said, you just put the top rack down as low as it can go and put the turkey on top. Don’t use soap, Mom adds.

When we hosted the Halloween Carvation party at greenwater, it was my moms I called on to help me gauge how much chili to make, then Elaine came to help me serve & host the party. They just know how to do it. I guess it is all the years of serving holiday meals, business dinners and gatherings of all sorts.

My childhood memories contain these two moms who were smart, lovely, fun and resourceful. They could bake bread, clean & cook fish or pheasants or ducks. They could waterski or downhill, and looked good doing either. They could paint or wallpaper walls, make and hang curtains & recover and refinish furniture. (Plus, they both did crossword puzzles to relax, so their vocabularies were huge) It was a great way to grow up; lots of life lessons in these girls for me. They made us believe we could do anything; nothing was too hard or out of reach. We were all smart enough, able enough, and strong enough to do what we wanted.

So on this particular holiday, I would like to pay tribute to these two women who made me the gal I am today. I am living a dream I couldn’t have reached without their example, and for that I am ever grateful. I am giving thanks for you, Mom & Elaine.

And to all of you — I wish you a peaceful, rich and restful Thanksgiving break. Enjoy it all.