I love Thanksgiving – I love the traditional meal (the roast turkey, the peas, the potatoes, the stuffing, the pumpkin pie) – and I love having family gathered around a dining room table. But, like for many others, the holiday fantasy doesn’t fit the reality. We don’t have family to fill our dining room. In previous years, I’ve had friends over, but once they married and had kids, their in-laws fought over them, and they couldn’t come here. I’ve made the Thanksgiving feast for just the four of us (me, husband and two boys) and, honestly, they couldn’t care less about the formal meal.

We’ve gone away to inns and been the “orphan” family at friends, but it just didn’t satisfy my craving for a food and family filled house. So, I created my own Thanksgiving tradition – The Sunday after Thanksgiving Pie Party.

When everyone else is done with their family dramas and travels and don’t want to eat another bite of turkey, they come here and eat pie. There’s always room for pie. I love making pie, and for this party I make many, many pies. Everything but pumpkin. This year I made: Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie, Raspberry Framboise Tart, Key Lime Pie with Blueberry Glaze, Lemon Chess Pie with Strawberry Topping, Chocolate Cream Pie with Marscapone Whipped Cream, Brownie Pie, Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie, Cherry and Cranberry Peek-a-Boo Pie, Lemon Meringue Pie, Apple and Pear Pie, and Apple Pie with a Nut-Streusel Top.

We ate. We drank coffee. We chatted. We cooed at a baby. We watched the little ones build legos. We chatted. We ate some more. It was the perfect Thanksgiving.