For the past 19 years, the Isacs family has hosted Thanksgiving dinner at their home in the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut. Each year, anywhere from 8 to 20 extended family and friends swelled the ranks of the family of four: Peter and Nadine, the consummate host and hostess, and their sons PK, 27, and Christopher, 25.
“It has always been our favorite holiday,” said Christopher, because “it’s really just focused on family, along with the concept of gratitude, which has always been very important to us.”
Last year, however, they were bracing for a very different holiday.
Peter had suddenly passed away in his sleep in late August.
“We not only had Peter’s empty seat,” Nadine said, “but other family members who had been celebrating with us for years could not come because of the pandemic—and we were very aware that that was the case for so many other Americans.
“We knew it was going to be a tough one.”
As the three of them sat at the dinner table one October night, mulling over Thanksgiving over glasses of wine, inspiration struck.
“We all tend to claim the idea as our own,” Nadine said, “but I think Christopher might have said: ‘You know what? I could write a book on Thanksgiving.’ And I said, ‘Why don’t we?’ And off we went.”
All Things Considered
Divvying up the chapters was easy; each family member presides over a different domain.Peter did the cooking when the boys were young, but after Christopher developed a keen interest in all things culinary, he took over preparing the feast while still in high school.
He first learned to cook from his father. “My earliest cooking memory actually is on Thanksgiving, chopping up the garlic, the onions, and the carrots and celery for my dad when he was making the stuffing,” he said.
PK, meanwhile, is the resident sommelier and mixologist. He developed an interest in wine early on, poring over books on regions and varietals, and earned extra money during his college years in New Orleans by working as a bartender.
Finally, Nadine, the ever-gracious hostess, brings her expertise and warmth to everything from the table settings—her love of which came from Peter’s Grandma Glad, and the fairytale-like settings she created in her own home—to the little details that make everyone feel welcome.
Heart of the Holiday
In 2020, their Thanksgiving dinner ended up being a smaller gathering, as expected—but no less festive. In the lead-up to the holiday, documenting and photographing everything for the book kept the family busy, and their spirits and motivation up.“[I’m] not sure we would have gone all out if it wasn’t for the book,” Nadine said. “It’s been a great project for us to [pay] tribute to my husband, but also channel our grief and do something positive.”
This year, she hopes her family’s experience can help others facing difficult holiday seasons ahead.
“For those who are grieving—and God knows, there are millions of Americans who are in the same place as we are, with an empty seat at the table, many more so than previous years because of COVID—maybe they will be inspired to take that grief and do something positive with it,” she said. “Writing a book is a big thing, but it could be just being inspired to call someone that they haven’t called, or to invite someone to their Thanksgiving who they hadn’t included before, or who has maybe been going through a difficult time.
“I do think that [we were inspired to write] this book, and we all think that it was much bigger than ourselves. ... I think for people going through the grieving process, we’re all inspired to do something if we listen close enough.”
With each passing Thanksgiving, “the gratitude element becomes more and more important,” Nadine added. She emphasized the importance of “being present, and just recognizing how precious this all is.”
Thanksgiving Tips From the Isacs
With each year of hosting, “we raised our game,” Nadine said. Here, she, PK, and Christopher share some of their best advice—the culmination of 20 years of feasting, drinking, and memory-making.Talking Turkey With Christopher
Start with good ingredients. “If you can, invest in a high-quality turkey, especially if you can support a local farm.” Christopher uses the three little pigs as a metaphor: “It’s the one who used bricks that the wolf couldn’t get to. It’s not that he was better at building a house, it’s that he invested in good materials.”Breaking down the bird also lets you play “turkey Tetris,” to more easily fit everything in the pan and the oven, and sets you up to make stock with the carcass now, instead of waiting until the day after Thanksgiving—“which is 364 days away from when you really want turkey stock.” Which leads to ...
Raising the Bar With PK
Set up a bloody mary bar—with one important step. “The night before Thanksgiving is the biggest bar night in America, so a lot of guests end up really wanting a bloody mary the next day. Our big problem with it was, a bloody mary’s going to make you very, very full, and you want to be as hungry as possible for the biggest meal of the year.” The solution: Make clarified tomato juice, by hanging the seasoned juice overnight in cheesecloth. “The result is you get all that tomato flavor, but none of the extra fullness.”Try a Manhattan as a post-feast digestif, an Isacs family tradition: Sterilize an empty wine bottle with hot water and let it cool; funnel in 10 ounces rye, 10 ounces sweet vermouth, 10 dashes angostura bitters, and 4 ounces water; and cork and freeze for at least 12 hours.