When I was 12 years old, my grandmother, Mary Davis, taught me how to make the perfect Bloody Mary. It was not so much a lesson in booze for her pre-teen granddaughter, but a life lesson in entertaining to prime her for future success. And if there was one holiday where her skills shined like the starlet that she was, it was the Thanksgiving meal she hosted in her home in Shalimar, FL. Thanksgiving for my grandmother was not just a meal, but a grand performance she gave her audience, our family, to enjoy around her dinner table. Grandmama hosted Thanksgiving through the ‘80’s until she was 79 years old, when she injured herself in a dance competition, and was promptly moved in with my aunt Stacy for closer surveillance.