For our 8 years of wedded bliss, Cool Mum and I have always been Thanksgiving visitors. Either with our families in Florida or strangers (now friends) last year in NYC. This year, we’re hosting our very first Thanksgiving – if I can get get off the computer and go buy a turkey. Just kidding, we’re all sorts of prepared, having bought everything we need from the store before it closed last night.

Just as the first Thanksgiving was a melding of cultures, the first Cool Thanksgiving will be a multicultural event (minus the taking of land and relocation to reservations). The nations of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Japan, and the Philippines will be represented, along with the European melting pot that is Cool Mum. To the right is the feast that will feed us later today. For our Japanese friends, this is their first American Thanksgiving. At least we can say that there’s nowhere to go but up for their future Thanksgivings.

The feature of the feast is Slow Cooker Turkey Breast. Last night, I picked out a frozen turkey breast with gravy at the surprisingly chill grocery store (lots of people have left NYC for the holiday). I was afraid that it might not thaw in time, but I thawed it in the sink with no problem. This morning, I put the turkey breast and gravy in the crock pot, and it should be all done by 3:00. I took a lot of liberty with the recipe, like stirring onion soup mix in with the gravy. But onion soup mix is like the type O negative of ingredients, and slow-cooking is nearly foolproof.

The sides will include stuffing that I’m still debating when to put in the turkey breast, peas, corn, and sweet potatoes with cinnamon and brown sugar. To drink, we have Coca-Cola beverages, like Coca-Cola (and nothing else), sugar-free Hawaiian punch, and tap water with ice. Dessert will be a fresh-baked, long-frozen Sara Lee pumpkin pie and Fla-Vor-Ice.

This Thanksgiving meal would probably bring Paula Deen to tears, but we’re not sweating it. We’re just looking forward to spending good time with our friends and thanking God for everything He’s done, which is every good thing in our lives.

The Cool Fam wishes you a Happy Thanksgiving! What are you doing today?