Tag: MayThanksgiving

The Maysgiving Table Is Now Available

Seven years ago, I set a table in May and decided to call it Thanksgiving.

Today, I get to tell you that it is a book.

The Maysgiving Table is officially available, and I am still a little overwhelmed by what it means to say that. This tradition has lived in my kitchen, around my table, in my family’s memory for seven years. And now it gets to live in your hands.

The book is part cookbook and part memoir. It holds the recipes that have anchored Maysgiving from the beginning alongside the stories that made them mean something. It is for the home cook who wants something beautiful to gather around. It is for anyone who has ever wanted to build a tradition but did not know where to start. It is for the person who believes that gratitude is worth a whole meal and not just a quick thought before dinner.

The Maysgiving Table is available in three formats:

Hardcover for the kitchen shelf, for the person who loves a beautiful book in their hands.

Paperback for the practical cook who wants something that can be opened flat next to the stove.

Kindle for the reader who wants to take it everywhere or search a recipe in the middle of cooking.

Get The Maysgiving Table on Amazon: Hardcover, Paperback, and Kindle

If you have been following along for this whole series, thank you. You already know what Maysgiving means to me. You know the cranberry sauce story and the stuffing and the Gratitude Pie and all of it. Now you can bring it to your own table.

And if this is your first time here: welcome. There is always room at the Maysgiving table. The book is a great place to pull up a chair.

Here is to May. Here is to the table. Here is to deciding that today is worth celebrating.

I hope to see you at Maysgiving.

Order The Maysgiving Table today on Amazon

May 25, 2026
How to Host Your Own Maysgiving

You do not need seven years of practice to host Maysgiving. You need a table, a meal, and a decision to show up for the people you love.

Here is how to start.

I Picked a Date in May

I schedule my Maysgiving on the fourth Thursday of May, just like we do for Thanksgiving. It marks the halfway point to Thanksgiving, and it gives the day the same kind of weight and intention. Put it on the calendar and let your family know! The act of scheduling it is itself part of the tradition. It says: this is happening. We are doing this.

Keep the Menu Simple the First Year

You do not have to cook everything from scratch to have a meaningful Maysgiving. A roast chicken works just as well as a turkey. Store-bought pie can absolutely sit next to homemade stuffing. The food is the vehicle, not the destination. Give yourself permission to start small.

Be Intentional at the Table

This is the piece that makes Maysgiving different from any other dinner. Take a few minutes before or during the meal to name what you are grateful for. You can keep it casual. Just go around the table. You can make it a whole thing if your family is into that. But say it out loud. That is what makes it Maysgiving instead of just dinner.

Invite Someone New Each Year

This is optional, but it has been one of my favorite parts of growing the tradition. Each year, consider inviting someone who might not have a big gathering to go to in May. Maysgiving has room for everybody.

Make It Yours

The best thing about Maysgiving is that there are no rules; well, at least my rules! The table belongs to you. Make the recipes yours. The traditions you build will be specific to your family, your kitchen, your people. Let it evolve. Let it surprise you.

If you want a full guide, a collection of tested recipes, and all the stories from seven years of doing this, The Maysgiving Table has everything you need.

Get The Maysgiving Table on Amazon and host your first Maysgiving this May

May 21, 2026
The Recipes That Started It All

Let me tell you about three dishes that have been on the Maysgiving table since the very beginning. These are not just recipes. They are the foundation of the tradition.

The Cranberry Sauce

Here is my hot take: canned cranberry sauce is perfectly fine and I will not apologize for it. I open the can, slice it, put it on the table, and nobody complains. Maysgiving is about the gathering, not the performance. Some things do not need to be homemade, and cranberry sauce is one of them.

The Stuffing

Every family has their stuffing, and this is ours. It is a classic base, but the details are what make it: the bread, the aromatics, the way everything comes together in the oven with just the right amount of crisp on top. My boys started helping with this one in year five, and now when they make it, I can taste the memory in it. That is what a good recipe does. It holds time.

The Gratitude Pie

This one needs a little explanation. In year two, I decided that our Maysgiving dessert needed a name with meaning. The Gratitude Pie is a simple, classic pie, nothing fussy, because the point is not to impress anyone with the technique. The point is that every year we make it together. Every year we sit with it. Every year it tastes like the exact right ending to the day.

The full recipes for all three are in The Maysgiving Table, along with all the stories behind them. If you want to bring any of these to your own table, the book is where to start.

Find The Maysgiving Table on Amazon in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle

May 14, 2026
The Evolution of Maysgiving: A Family Tradition Story

Seven Maysgivings. That is where we are.

If you had told me seven years ago that I would still be doing this, that it would grow into something with recipes and traditions and meaning layered upon meaning, I think I would have laughed. I just wanted a reason to make stuffing in May.

But here we are.

Year One was the experiment. I was not sure anyone would take it seriously. My family showed up a little skeptical and left asking when we were doing it again. That was enough for me.

Year Two, I started taking notes. Not formal ones, just little scribbles. What worked on the table, what felt right, what I wanted to remember. The cranberry sauce recipe got locked in that year. It has not changed since.

Year Three brought more people and more food. I learned that Maysgiving scales beautifully. You can do it for four people or fourteen. The spirit is the same.

Year Four was the one I almost skipped. Life was full. Schedules were impossible. But I set the table anyway, and I am so glad I did. That year reminded me that traditions are most important when they feel hardest to keep.

Year Five, my boys started helping with the cooking. That changed everything. Watching them understand that we do this on purpose, that we choose gratitude, that we make it happen, was one of the most quietly beautiful parenting moments I have had.

Year Six, I realized I had a real body of work on my hands. Seven years of recipes. Seven years of reflections. Seven years of stories from around the table. Something kept nudging me to write it down properly.

Year Seven, I did.

The Maysgiving Table started as a family dinner. It became a tradition. And now it is a book. A cookbook-memoir that holds everything I have learned, cooked, laughed over, and been grateful for across seven years of intentional celebration.

Each Maysgiving has been different. Each one has taught me something. And all of it is in the book.

Available Now!

I even wrote a whole Thanksgiving Music Album!!! Enjoy a listen.

May 7, 2026