Girlsgiving

I was calling it the Black Friday Feast, but it has been dubbed Girlsgiving by the young women involved.  So Girlsgiving it is.

Having not had a "real" Thanksgiving yesterday, Jenna invited some of her girlfriends to our home the day after to cook, feast and be merry.  The friends are from different times in Jenna's life:  high school, college, and one of her AmeriCorps stints.  Seven guests came, and Jenna and I made it nine for dinner.

There was some kind of punch to begin:  gingerbeer and cranberry juice with a hefty pour of gin.  My contribution was our traditional breaded and sauteed artichoke hearts, an appetizer that has been part of every holiday dinner I can remember.  And then the feast, prepared by Jenna:  salad, green beans, mashed potatoes, stuffing, butternut squash, apple salad.  Cyndi baked two pies for dessert: a buttery apple pie and a decadent chocolate creation that was made even sweeter with Lyndsay's rum-infused whipped cream.  There was music, conversation, and laughter . . . sounds like a holiday celebration to me.

I don't know if Girlsgiving will be repeated next year.  Who knows where these young women will be a year from now?  For today, I fell in love with the company of twentysomethings who remind me that I was once that young, that hopeful, that inspired.