posole!!!! i haven't had that in 6 yrs!! not since we moved from CA.!!!!

 our landlord use to make it for dh at least 2 times a month!! yummy!!

Not sure which holiday was meant, but..

For thanksgiving, my homemade cornbread dressing (I dont stuff the bird), and something pumpkin, either pie which is what we usually have, or pumpkin bars. So fattening but so good! I dont put the cream cheese icing on them though, I just put a dab of cool whip on them, which saves on a little fat, but not much!

For Christmas we go to my mother in law's house, but we bring dishes if we can, or want to. We always have a mini-Christmas dinner the weekend after Christmas, just because I love to cook and bake. And at that time I fix either ham, duck or goose.. something different from turkey, and Christmas cookies instead of a pumpkin dessert.

My family's Thanksgiving menu is pretty conventional: turkey (lately a free-range turkey to placate the semi-vegetarian elder daughter--me), baked potatoes (both white and sweet), stuffing (well, technically, dressing, since it's not cooked in the bird), gravy, cranberry sauce (always whole berry, and always homemade), and a green vegetable. Sometimes we have just a salad, sometimes there's a hot veggie as well. In short, a lot of stuff to fit on one plate. My dad has experimented with different kinds of stuffing; his current favorite is brown rice with apples and chestnuts. My husband and I bring the cranberries and the pies (one apple and one pumpkin), and his lattice crust always draws oohs and ahhs.

When celebrating Christmas at my in-laws' house, the real must-have is the cookies, and since everyone has a favorite, there are about four kinds that *must* be made: Russian tea cakes, date bars, peanut butter kisses, and chocolate crunchies. Lately we've dropped the gingerbread boys, since no one was really that attached to them, and brought back plain sugar cookies, since the little ones get to have a ball decorating them with different colors of frosting and generally making a mess.

 Use to do bacon wrapped hot dogs rolled in brown sugar baked in the oven. But over 10 years ago stopped eating beef & pork so I guess now it is Mashed potatoes & bread rolls.

Yep, time to bump this thread up and trot out 'ole Mama Stambaugh and her cranberry relish again...

Grind up or use a food processor to chop up 2 cups of fresh cranberries and 1 small onion.  Place into a bowl and stir in 1/2 cup sugar, 3/4 cup sour cream and 2 tablespoons of horseradish.  Can be frozen indefinitely and thawed about 2 hours before serving.

Now, how easy is that?  And this stuff's wonderful!  I'll make a double batch soon and that's one thing out of the way for both Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner...Liz.

 I agree it is time to get this thread going again for 2009! I was wondering if anyone were changing any of their plans this year due to the economic times. I know that most of us tend to live simply to begin with but the Holidays everyone seems to splurge at least a little....how is this being effected. 

We are starting new traditions this year. The first year in our new home. Living closer to my mother again we haven't spent Thanksgiving with her and my brother in over 9 years, so this year will be special. I will be trotting out some of the old family recipes like the sweet potato casserole (with the marshmallows of course!) and adding my DFIL's crandberry relish. 

 

What is everyone else doing???

Blessings

MM

 Babs, you took me back to my grandmother, who baked those mile-high cocoanut cakes (hers with boiled frosting and a tart lemon filling).. She also made the same-sized chocolate, vanilla cakes with buttercream icing. What I wouldn't give for one of those!