What three favorite family Thanksgiving traditions will you pass on to your children?

I always looked forward to sharing Thanksgiving traditions with my children when I had them. I dreamed of baking & cooking together with matching aprons, and bonding over cookie decorating and pie filling. Well, my Norman Rockwell view of the holiday was shattered with that first diagnosis of my son's PKU. I had never really thought about how much the holiday is wrapped up in food. In a moment, all my hopes had been dashed and I looked at holidays as dirty unrealistic ideals. How do you have Turkey Day going low protein? Well, flash forward two years...and I am again looking forward to Thanksgiving even if it means a modification of food & traditions I will pass on to my children. I will still celebrate the holidays as normal with them, but my menu will be modified.

So, what WILL I pass on to them? First off, I want to keep making our fantastic pumpkin pie! That is the pinnacle of the holiday in my mind. I love the Cook's Illustrated ultimate pumpkin pie with it's vodka crust. Oh, yes! I said vodka! It makes the flakiest crust ever. Stay tuned as I will be making it again this year and posting it. Then for the kids, I will be experimenting with the Rich's Rich Whip & pumpkin puree to either make the kids a trifle? Or a full on pie with Wel-plan baking mix for the crust.

Secondly, my DH's grandmother makes a cold cranberry dish that is to die for! Again, I am pretty sure I can use the Rich's to make a comparable low phe substitute. The original has a sweetened cream cheese base topped with a cranberry sauce and chopped walnuts... all chilled and ready to be savored! So with a little flavoring in the non-dairy whipped topping and no walnuts, I think I can get close. At least visually close.

Last but not least, I want to pass on a true sense of thankfulness. In my family we always shared what we were thankful for before we broke bread. Since we have so much to be thankful for; the modern treatment of PKU, medical food accessibility, our completed family, etc. I want to keep it all in perspective.

Okay, so what traditions do you want to or are sharing with your children? Take a peak at Twitter Moms for more info about what prompted my post and how you can blog about your traditions and win a Target GC. http://www.target.com

Happy Thanksgiving all!