The Thanksgiving Issue
Some exciting news, a cocktail recipe, and a song with my sister
Hello Friends,
Happy Thanksgiving week. How are you doing? I’m still a little numb from the election results. In my last newsletter, I included a video of me singing “Not While I’m Around” in Catalan and mentioned my idea of someday recording an album of Lullabies for Grown-Ups.
The morning after the election, I wrote on Facebook: “Wow, maybe I WILL make that Lullabies for Grown-Ups album.” The reaction was incredible—I received over 400 song suggestions!
In the days that followed, I kept feeling this tremendous need to do something that might bring comfort to people. I started making a Spotify playlist of the Facebook suggestions, when a holiday song suddenly popped into my head: “There’s Still My Joy” by Melissa Manchester, Beth Nielsen Chapman, and Matthew Rollings. Back in 2020, Melissa recommended this beautiful song for my pandemic Christmas album, Comfort & Joy – An Acoustic Christmas, which I recorded with my neighbor, renowned guitarist Peter Calo. Though the song made my shortlist, we ran out of time and couldn’t include it.
But now, I couldn’t get it out of my head. In one of the most spontaneous decisions I’ve ever made, I recorded the song with Peter last week, and it will be released on December 6. I can’t wait for you to hear it.
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In Other News
I’ve been hard at work rehearsing with my sister, Ann, who is happily in town for Thanksgiving this year. We’re opening our new show, New York State of Mind, tomorrow night at NYC’s 54 Below.
If you’re in the NYC area this week, I hope you’ll join us for what I promise will be a fun, uplifting evening of great songs and stories about our early years in New York together. Can’t make it in person? We’re livestreaming the show on Saturday, November 30, at 7:00 PM ET. I hope you’ll tune in from home! CLICK HERE FOR LIVESTREAM TICKETS
Wait, I Forgot to Order the Turkey
With everything going on, I almost forgot about Thanksgiving dinner and only just ordered our turkey yesterday! It’ll be a small gathering at the Callaway/Foster house this year—me, Dan, Nicholas, Ann, Kari, and, of course, Oliver.
Thanksgiving is all about tradition in our family. It starts the night before with my “Night Before Thanksgiving Cranberry Margaritas.” I can’t remember when I started making these, but I highly recommend them.
NOTES: As you can see, I halve the recipe. My cranberry juice of choice is Apple & Eve Naturally Cranberry Juice. I use Triple Sec or Cointreau for the orange liqueur, and usually omit the sugar. Make a batch and taste it- I like a tart margarita-add more orange liqueur if you like yours sweeter. I love a sugar rim for this, either with raw sugar or superfine sugar. You can also make this on the rocks without frozen cranberries, but I think the frozen version is festive and worth the extra effort.
Other childhood traditions include bread-cutting contests and olive boxing with my sister. Here’s a video of our 2022 boxing contest. She cheated.
For Thanksgiving dinner, I always make roast turkey and two different stuffings: Callaway stuffing (oyster stuffing) and Foster stuffing (basically, oyster stuffing without the oysters). Each year, to keep the peace, I alternate which stuffing goes in the bird.
The most important dish, though, is mashed potatoes and gravy. When we were kids, Ann and I called them swimming pools, a tradition I passed on to Nicholas. At 33 years old, he still calls them swimming pools—and so do we!
This year, I’ll save time by buying my gravy, but I’ll serve it in the gravy boat I bought for my mom at Korvettes with my childhood allowance. The rest of the menu includes cranberry sauce, roasted broccoli with walnuts, a green salad, cornbread, and store-bought pumpkin pie with fresh whipped cream for dessert.
FYI: We have an 8:00 PM show at 54 Below on Thanksgiving, so the trick will be not to overindulge. Too much.
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What are your Thanksgiving traditions? Are they as weird as mine? Please let me know in the comments!
From the Vault
In 1997, while I was appearing in Cats on Broadway, I took part in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, singing “Gotta Go See Santa Claus.” Parade performers have to arrive at 5:00 AM, which makes for a VERY long day, especially when you sing shortly before Santa appears!
Here’s a video of my performance—transferred from a VHS tape my mom recorded. The quality isn’t great, and it was freezing and windy that day (hence the hat and earmuffs). That adorable little boy holding my hand? That’s six-year-old Nicholas!
This year, I’ll happily be watching the Parade from home, followed by the National Dog Show and then football!
Where in the World is Liz?
After I finish my November 26-30 shows with Ann at 54 Below, I’m doing a reading of a new musical written by Kara Cutruzzula and Kristopher Bjarke, which I’m very excited about. Then, I’m off to do holiday symphony concerts in Kentucky and Florida. And then I’ll be home for Christmas.
Click here for my full schedule, which includes Broadway and cabaret cruises in 2025, and soon-to-be-announced London concerts!
A Thanksgiving Song
I’ll leave you with a song from 2022, when Ann and I celebrated Thanksgiving together for the first time in three years. We’ll be singing this again this week- I hope it brings you some joy.
Thank you for reading this issue of Between Flights. I wish you and your loved ones a wonderful Thanksgiving. I’m truly grateful for each and every one of you.
xoxo Liz
PS If you’d like to give the gift of music this Christmas, I have a shop set up on my website, and a nifty label maker I use to send out autographed CDs and Anastasia photos from my basement office! CLICK HERE TO SHOP
We always get Chinese Take-Out on the Wednesday Night before Thanksgiving, for dinner.
I always watch the Broadway Scenes on the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade with a Cold Glass of Milk and some warm cookies (good ones, not boxed) for breakfast. Have done that since I was a little kid.
What a thoughtful and lovely newsletter, thank you Liz! All best wishes for a very happy Thanksgiving! 💕