Oh it's Thanksgiving Eve and makes me remember the baking I did when I lived in Pennsylvania. I learned how to make pumpkin rolls and home made pies for the very first time. Everyone I worked with was eager to help out the "New Yorker." I was impressed that they grew their own produce and canned them!! I had never heard of that but we all laughed it off because I was the "New Yorker" fresh out of college and barely able to prepare a variety of meals for myself. The bake off always set the mood for lots of laughing, the appetite for good eating and of course the warmth of having loved ones with you. I wasn't always able to be with my biological family when I was living there but my memories of those times stand out as some of the best times ever.

This Thanksgiving, I will be spending with my husband and kids and driving over to Brooklyn. My husband's parents and sister still live in the home he grew up in and we will be there this year. I am baking pumpkin spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and using store bought autumn leaves as toppers. Feels lazy but had some orders to fulfill and wasn't able to get the chocolate leaves done. Making an extra batch and surprising my neighbor who so generously gifted my daughter with a pretty play crib the other night. She is hosting Thanksgiving at her house (next door) and I'm sure the extra cupcakes I give her family will be gobbled right up!

This season gets me all sentimental and nostalgic. I hope that tonight's mini bake off here at home will kickstart the 2009 holidays with the same warmth of holidays past.