Here we are heading into the end of 2025. Our younger selves thought about how far away that year would be. But the Thoroughbroads are here; it is a little shocking to consider that next year, 2026, will mark the 250th founding of our country. Thanksgiving will be celebrated with immense pleasure, I am sure.
This Thanksgiving may be a little different for many of us. With air travel and the expenses for hotels, food, and gas, many may stay home as opposed to traveling to visit family outside their immediate area. We have found it is hard to live the holidays as we did in younger years, with family members passing, others moving away, and our 80-year-old neighbors taking care of their grandkids, which limits their time for us, who have none. How about planning a Friendsgiving instead?
Robyn and Scarlett will be celebrating together with another pal who lives halfway between them. It makes for a 3-hour drive for each of them instead of a 6-hour one. That way, our host has to clean the house and do most of the big cooking! Of course, Robyn will do some baking, and Scarlett will bring her famous pumpkin pie and do the clean up after the meal. We will explore the small town where our host lives. We will enjoy some football games along with a few Hallmark tear-jerker movies. We will explore the small town our host lives in and then venture 7 miles to the Big City for fancy drinks, high-end dining, holiday parades, plus the decorations throughout the area.
Robyn and Scarlett have not let things change the fact that they were good friends back in Louisville and have maintained that friendship since. A text, a call, a card, or a note is shared weekly so that they both know the other is thinking about them. It is a reminder that we are lucky to have such a strong relationship in our later years. We both make an effort to maintain our connection.
We are beyond grateful we have each other this Friendsgiving, and we have another friend willing to put up with us for a few days in November!
Below is a new recipe we will be testing out for a punch we intend to drink along with leftover turkey sandwiches later that day and the next and the next….
Pimm's Cup Punch
Serves 12
Ingredients- 1 ¼ cups loosely packed fresh mint
- 1 cup fresh lemon juice
- 3 navel oranges thinly sliced into half moons
- 1 English cucumber thinly sliced
- 6 cups sliced fresh strawberries
- 2 ½ cups Pimm's No. 1
- 5 cans lemon flavored sparkling water
Place mint, lemon juice, 1 ½ cups oranges, 1 ¼ cups cucumber, and 1 ¼ cups of strawberries in a large bowl and crush this mixture until no large pieces remain, about 2 minutes worth.
Pour mix through a fine mesh strainer over a large punch bowl, fill halfway with ice, and discard the solids. Stir in the Pimm's cup and the remaining oranges, cucumbers, and strawberries. Finish with lemon flavored water, stir until combined, garnish with a mint sprig in each glass served.