I've said it before, I'll say it again.

Everything's bigger in Texas and Thanksgiving is no exception. Although one of these years I'd like to stay in NYC and actually go to the parade instead of watching it from the couch in Texas.

Lil' Bro was in charge of several Thanksgiving dishes this year - he's quite the cook. I would say his future wife is a lucky lady, but I'm not sure his culinary skills will make up for all of the other crap she'll inevitably have to put up with.

Cooking with him is always fun - last time I was home he made watermelon-injected pork tenderloin with jalapeno watermelon salsa one night and New York strip steak with cilantro butter and buttermilk cheddar biscuits the next.

We come from a long line of cooks, and holidays are spent predominantly in the kitchen, picking at things as we make them, marathon eating our way through breakfast, lunch and leftovers for dinner.

And Grandmother has a special thing she makes for each of us. I am buttermilk pie, my mom is hanky pankies for breakfast (sausage and cheese baked onto cocktail ryes) and my uncle is cheesecake.

The year that my uncle and his family stayed in Arizona for Thanksgiving, Grandmother attempted to FedEx a cheesecake to his house. He said it took a minute to figure out what the football-shaped lump inside the package on his doorstep was supposed to have been. God love her for trying...

This year's Thanksgiving was no different. The gang was all there, hanky pankies and all. Momma J, Lil' Bro and I made the majority of the gorge-fest. Here's what we had:

Oven-roasted turkey

Smoked turkey

Herbed oyster stuffing

Sausage terrine stuffing

Brown gravy from homemade turkey stock

Whipped yukon potatoes with scallion

Great-grandmother's butter rolls

Steamed asparagus and green beans

Maple sweet potato mash

Gruyere mac 'n cheese

And my favorite thing of the entire dinner - prime rib with horseradish sauce

What about dessert you ask? We had some helpers in this category, but here's the laundry list:

Coconut cake

Buttermilk pie

Chess pie

Chocolate chip cookies

Homemade pumpkin ice cream

Clearly we should be professional eaters. And drinkers. That handle of bourbon we cracked open on Wednesday night barely lived to see another.

I think I'll fast 'til Christmas - don't think we won't be doing it all over again. Just substitute ham for turkey...