Thanksgiving

The first time I tasted corn-bread dressing — which, I better hasten to add, was neither my wife’s nor, more important, my mother-in-law’s — I thought somebody had figured out a way to solidify dishwater. The texture was wet and crumbly, and the flavor was bland.

But, to Jessica, Thanksgiving just isn’t Thanksgiving without corn-bread dressing. Just as it isn’t Thanksgiving to me without stale-bread dressing. So we compromise: Now, each year, we have both.

It is one less thing to argue about.

But, hey, there are the side dishes. And the desserts. And the …

We’re nothing if not Traditionalists.