It is that time of year again—turkey, wine, pumpkin pie, football, stretch pants—aka Thanksgiving. I think Thanksgiving might be my favorite holiday. This is our first year celebrating as a married couple so we’re excited to see our families and chat about the wedding. Thanksgiving to us is full of so many holiday traditions—as I’m sure it is with your family. We sneak really good bottles of wine in the butler’s pantry and snack on some type of delicious seafood for an appetizer, always brought by my aunt who lives in Boston. The children get bigger every year and we get them chatting about the mother of all holidays – Christmas. We eat dinner at my grandparents house in their big dining room on fancy plates and silver trays, which my grandfather has probably been shinning all week (my grandmother is the true party planner in the family, much to my chagrin). After dinner is aunt Kitty’s homemade pies—apple and pumpkin. Then, like clockwork, my dad rallies the kids upstairs into the family room and puts on The Grinch.

It’s a good day. I look forward to our traditions. It is never the same when a family member can’t make it, someone tries a new recipe (ahh! Where’s the stuffing?!), or something doesn’t go horribly wrong (remember the mash potato incident?). I find a lot of comfort in our family traditions and I’m excited to explore new traditions with my husband’s family this year. We have a new nephew and our other nephew is getting so big—it’ll be really exciting to share the holiday’s with them this year!

On our honeymoon to Sonoma County / Russian River we purchased many bottles of wine for special occasions. I’m really excited to bring and drink Porter Creek’s 2006 Carignane, grown in the Alexander Valley. We had the most amazing afternoon at Porter Creek Winery which was, literally, across the street from our fabulous inn.

What are your favorite family traditions during the holiday’s?