... and it's Valerie!
Congratulations, Valerie! You've won my extra copy of Jan Brett's Home for Christmas! I've sent you an email so we can arrange our mailing details. I do hope you enjoy the book - it's a lovely little tale.
And WOW, there were 104 names to draw from! Thank you all, SO much, for taking the time to answer Earlybird's cranberry question. Because of you all, we have lots of raw data with which to formulate our graph. :)
I was reading the responses as they came in, but honestly, with all the pre-holiday chaos preparations, I didn't keep track of which choice was winning out - canned or homemade. It seemed pretty even, I think! (And there were a startling number of readers who simply don't care for cranberry sauce to begin with, lol!)
Well, at our Thanksgiving table we will offer both canned and homemade today. My dad and my brother prefer good ol' canned Ocean Spray, but I really love to make my own - if for nothing else than for how amazing it smells as it cooks! So I whipped up some relish last night, a very easy recipe that called for fresh cranberries, plain sugar and orange juice ... only I snuck in a dash of ground cloves, too. ;)
(And if there's any leftover relish I plan to make this on Sunday - perfect for the first day of Advent, don't you think? Or maybe these - lovely for after-church brunch!)
Cranberries will also star in our our signature holiday cocktail ~ today we are serving up "Cranberry Daiquiris!" They will look so pretty in our cosmo glasses, and with berries, orange, lemon, cinnamon and rum, I think they'll taste pretty nice, too. I'll be sure to take pictures to show you. :)
Dear readers, this was so much fun! We'll be formulating our "cranberry" graph next week, and will share it as soon as it's ready. And please look for another poll/giveaway in a couple of weeks. We'll have some "early winter" questions for you ... ;)
~**❤**~
Well, allrighty ~ I'm going to finish this coffee and get myself moving! The big day is here at last, and my mum should be here very soon to help me put the (25 pound!) turkey in the oven. And there's still lots to do before our guests arrive in six or so hours ...
So have a wonderful day ... and to my fellow Americans:
A Very Happy Thanksgiving to you!
To all my readers, thank you for taking the time to stop by and read. I am grateful for your visits ... for your kind words and all your wonderful support! Blogging has been such a blessing to me, and I'm thankful I'm able to do it!
See you all again very soon ...
:)
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy
