Imperfection on Thanksgiving Day

In the early morning hours of Thanksgiving Day before the house awoke, I decided to sneak a slice of flaky pecan pie to pair with my freshly made coffee. Unfortunately, I never seem to get the coffee right. My medium roast Big Bang scoops are either too big or too small. I forget to bloom the coffee. I don’t keep the water heated between pours into the Chemex. This morning, I accidentally missed the grounds and poured water between the filter and the glass.

I served myself breakfast using my late mother’s Spode ‘India Tree’ dessert plate, a Christofle ‘Marly’ small fork, and her one remaining Denby ‘Potter’s Wheel Rust Red’ grand mug, which was purchased in 1974 to coordinate with her kitchen’s sunflower patterned wallpaper.

I just learned that turkeys are known as “roosters of India” in several languages including French, coq d’Inde, which has shortened to dinde and in Hebrew, tarnegol hodu. Hodu also means gratitude. How ironic that she used the “India’ dinnerware each Thanksgiving dinner. I wonder if she knew of the connection.

When I sat down at the kitchen table to kick off the day of culinary shock and awe, I spied my stained Jellycat Messenger Bunny which had some mail for me. Damaged store items either get donated or come home with me with the hope that I could find a use for them. So, I started placing the toy, filled with an occasional love Post-it note for my boyfriend, on his desk or bedside table. He reciprocated with his notes written on hotel stationery from our various stays. We call it Bunny Mail. My Thanksgiving Day letter was written on The Mission Inn notepad paper from our unexpected stay when we were evacuated out of Idyllwild during the 2018 Cranston wildfire. He chose this paper because I’ve been going through a rough couple of weeks and he wanted to remind me that we’ve been through tough times before and we survived, and even thrived. My little black dog Vinny “wrote” to me that he’s sorry for barking at the sick cat, who may be on his 8^th or 9^th life, and wished me a nice day off on Thursday.

I’m fascinated how something that has zero value in my store can be priceless at home and how a cup of thin coffee is still drinkable in the right mug. It’s a wonderful reminder on the day of thanks, gratitude, and giving that how we connect with people is more important than a perfect meal and table setting. So, don’t stress out over a chipped plate and a dry turkey.

Enjoy the love.