Yesterday was our big shopping day. We loaded up the cart with all sorts of goodies for today. I don’t really do fancy table decorations but I do like to have fresh flowers. I have some simple cylinder vases that are about 6 inches tall and for today we’ve filled them with red carnations and white Dendrobiums. I cut a length of red ribbon  long enough to wrap around the vase, tacked the overlap down with a needle and thread and then slipped it onto the vase to obscure the fact that my stems are held together with a rubber band. Yesterday afternoon I made some cranberry sauce whose recipe I’m not allowed to change from year to year as Jason prefers it exactly this way. I’ll have to experiment sometime but not on Thanksgiving.

Spiced Cranberry Sauce

4 cups fresh cranberries
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 pinch ground ginger

Wash cranberries and drain; set aside. Combine remaining ingredients in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Add cranberries; cook 7 minutes or until cranberry skins pop. Reduce heat, and simmer mixture 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove mixture from heat, and allow to cool. Chill until ready to serve.