I looove this week!

BECAUSE Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! No gifts required. Just the presence of friends and family and lots of delicious food. Waking up to the smell of turkey roasting in the oven. (I put my turkey in the oven during the night.) A relaxing morning at home, making noodles and rolls and all of the other luscious food that comes only at Thanksgiving. :-) The afternoon spent relaxing and visiting, playing games, watching football, taking a leisurely after-dinner stroll, sharing leftovers. Yep, it's my favorite time of the year!

When I was a little girl, I was always the first one of us five kids up in the morning. I would mosey into the kitchen and there would be dad, rolling out noodles for dinner. He was always so cheerful in the morning! He would be wearing his usual gray work pants, white t-shirt and houseslippers, his hair freshly combed, bent over the table rolling out the dough, humming all the while.

He would tell me to go wash my hands and face and then I could help him. He had one particular knife that he cut the noodles with and I still have it today!

He would roll the dough up, slice it into these little rolls and then I would shake out the noodles. Then he would lay them out to dry on newspaper placed on top of the washer and dryer.

Then he would get the roll dough that had been raising and, with a grand flourish, punch it down!!! I was always amazed at how it deflated! Next, dad would commence to greasing pans and then yanking off a piece of the dough, shaping it and slapping it into the pan with a swoosh of his arm! He always made everything so much fun!! :-)