By: Peggy Henderson
With Christmas starting
earlier every year at the retail stores (Christmas trees at Costco before
Halloween, anyone?), Thanksgiving seems to have become the overlooked holiday.
Not at my house. I refuse to
even begin to think about Christmas until the Monday after Thanksgiving. Black
Friday? No. I stay home. My teenage son
looks forward to Thanksgiving more that he does Christmas. Why? The food, of
course! He has been asking me for weeks if I was going to be cooking his
favorites again this year. When I made an experimental apple pie a few weeks
ago, he came home from school, inhaled a deep breath, and smiled. “Smells like
Thanksgiving,” he said. “I can’t wait for Thanksgiving.”
Thanksgiving at our house
isn’t a huge family gathering. We’re all pretty much spread out around the
world, so it’s often just our immediate family. The last few years, it’s just
been my husband, kids, and me. But I still put out the big spread and all the
fixings – Turkey, sweet potato casserole with marshmallows (ok, too sweet for
me, but my husband wouldn’t be happy without it), green beans, mashed potatoes,
and home-made cranberry sauce. And of course, pumpkin and apple pie for desert.
What could me more American,
right? And I’m not even an American citizen. Growing up in Germany, we didn’t
have Thanksgiving. I don’t have the memories of cinnamon and pumpkin spice, and
sitting at a large family table. Apple pie, any kind of pie, was foreign to me.
(I’m still more of a fan of cake than pie, but on Thanksgiving I make an
exception)
One of the foods that
absolutely can’t be absent from our Thanksgiving table is home-made cranberry
sauce. The boys eat it like candy. I make a double batch than what the recipe
calls for, because otherwise there wouldn’t be any left at dinner time. Here’s
the recipe that I’ve been making for years:
1/2 pound
fresh cranberries
fresh zest
from two oranges
fresh zest
from a lemon
1/4 cup
fresh orange juice (from the orange you just zested)
3 tbsp lemon
juice (from the zested lemon)
1/2 cup
sugar (I use a little less)
1 tspn
vanilla extract (I like a bit more)
2 cups water
3 tbsp
cornstarch
Put
cranberries, orange/lemon zest, orange/lemon juice, sugar, vanilla, and 1 1/2
cups water in a saucepan and cook over medium heat.Bring to a boil and cook
until cranberries pop (about 10 minutes). Dissolve the cornstarch in the other
1/2 cup water and add to the saucepan. Reduce heat, and stir constantly until
mixture thickens. Cool completely, and serve. The smells in the kitchen from
this is wonderful!
When a reader asked me a few
months ago if I would write another holiday story in my Yellowstone Romance
Series, I immediately thought of Thanksgiving. I had already done a Christmas
story, so this Thanksgiving was my logical choice this time around. I wanted to
write a heartwarming story of family, while showcasing Thanksgiving in a
setting when and where the national holiday of Thanksgiving wasn’t even known
yet.
I hope my
story will remind readers of feelings of home and family that Thanksgiving
evokes, even as I have some fun with one of their favorite characters from the
Yellowstone books. I had to re-read a lot about the customs and daily lives of
the Sheepeater Indians for this story, and I found a couple of gems in my
research that I simply couldn't pass up to include in the book.
Here’s the
blurb and a quick excerpt from my Thanksgiving short story, A
Yellowstone Season of Giving
Yellowstone …
Winter of 1850
As the days get
short and the nights turn cold, and the season changes from fall to winter,
Daniel and Aimee Osborne gather the family for their traditional Thanksgiving
meal. It’s a time to reflect on the year’s good fortunes, and to reminisce
about days gone by.
Join them around
the hearth for the holiday, as memories are shared, and a story is retold of
how one young hunter won favor with the woman of his heart during a past season
of giving.
The moment Daniel opened the
door to Sarah’s cabin, he and Aimee were greeted by loud voices. The warm home
was filled with the rich aroma of roasted meat mixed with the succulent smells
of various dishes Sarah was known to prepare – greens she’d gathered in the
mountains, potatoes they brought from St. Louis during the summer, and wild
grains. Daniel stepped aside to allow Aimee to enter ahead of him, and he
removed her heavy coat, hanging it on a peg near the door.
Kara and Emily rushed up to
them, wide smiles on their rosy cheeks.
“We’re just waiting for you,
Grandma and Grandpa,” Kara said, her blonde hair braided down her back. Unlike
her sisters, twelve-year-old Kara liked to dress in britches, which did nothing
to disguise that she was blossoming into a beautiful young woman.
Daniel smiled. Chase would
soon have his hands full, fending off suitors for his four daughters. Although
he loved and doted on his girls, relief had been evident on Chase’s face when
his only son, Kyle, had been born two years ago. He was no longer the only male
in his house.
Kara reached for Daniel’s hand, and ushered
him to the head of one of several tables that had been set up in the center of
the main room. Elk Runner and Little Bird were already seated, along with
Summer Rain. There was an empty seat next to her, obviously intended for
Samuel.
Daniel glanced around the
room, a satisfied smile on his face. His three oldest granddaughters mingled
with Elk Runner’s grandchildren who were close in age. The younger ones,
including Sarah’s youngest daughter, Hannah, sat at a smaller table.
Chase and Samuel brought in
large trays piled high with meat, and took their seats. Chase held Kyle on his
lap, and the toddler stuck his hand into the gravy dish. Chase managed to pull
it away just before Kyle would have tipped it over. He stood, and handed his
son to Sarah, who wiped his dripping hand with a cloth.
Chase grinned, and raised a
cup. “Now that everyone’s here, we can eat,” he said loudly. Everyone cheered,
and steaming bowls of meat and vegetables were passed from person to person,
and from table to table.
Here’s wishing a happy
Thanksgiving to all my friends at Sweetheart of the West!
Peggy L Henderson is a laboratory technologist by
night, and best-selling western historical and time travel romance author of
the Yellowstone Romance Series, Second Chances Time Travel Romance Series, and
Teton Romance Trilogy. When she’s not writing about Yellowstone, the Tetons, or
the old west, she’s out hiking the trails, spending time with her family and
pets, or catching up on much-needed sleep. She is happily married to her high
school sweetheart. Along with her husband and two sons, she makes her home in
Southern California.
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