“Can we have a conversation without you mentioning Paula Deen?” my eldest sister asked this afternoon. My answer: “No. We cannot. I am obsessed with Paula Deen.”
(In fact, I am secretly planning a road trip with my best friend to Savannah to visit her restaurant The Lady & Sons as soon as possible. If you have any doubts about Paula Deen, just try this – Best chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve tried.)
Paula Deen is one of my lady heroes. In fact, if I were to create the perfect me, it would be a combination of Mother Theresa, Jackie O., Paula Deen, Sonia Clayton, Sheri Dew, Jane Goodall, the lady who created Spanx, Marilyn Monroe, and the tiniest bit of that crazy redhead on Desperate Housewives. But that is a completely other story and I digress.
I am obsessed with Paula Deen. Her recipes. Her cute personality. Her overuse of butter. Since moving to Texas, I have completely immersed myself in the idea of becoming Southern. I love Southern hospitality. I love to hear people speak with a Southern drawl. And don’t even get me started on Southern values and manners. (The Southern gentleman makes my heart melt no matter what he looks like and there is no way Ethan and Vienna are getting away with anything less than yes ma’m and yes sir because of it.) And of course, I love Southern comfort food. There is nothing like it. It’s similar to French cuisine due to all the cream and butter, but at the same time a lot less fancy …and well, comfortable. It feels like home.
Maybe that’s why I am in love with the idea of making this Christmas a Southern Christmas. It makes you feel like home. We’re not flying out for the holidays this year. We’re going to have our own little Thanksgiving and Christmas here, but I still want my home to feel like home for the holidays. And although, I’m not Southern, I think a Southern Thanksgiving and Christmas may be the best way to do it. So I’m breaking out the butter, upping my exercise time, and pulling out the BIG tree…afterall, I do live in Texas.
P.S. Oh, I am having Thanksgiving dinner at my home with friends. Anyone who doesn’t have somewhere to go for the holiday and would like to join – you are more than welcome. Email me or give me a call and we’ll throw another potato in the pot.
Side note: Having been named Loralee, I have always been asked if I was Southern. Years before I moved here, I even got out of a ticket in Utah because the judge loved my “Southern Texas” name. Who knew I’d live here one day? It must have been providence.
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