Every year at this time we gather around my mother's table to break bread and give thanks. It used to be my father's job to stack the table with enough people to orchestrate a deer drive after the feast - thus we've collected some colorful dinner guests through the years.

It's been this way as long as I can remember. Thanksgiving in Wisconsin equals deer season. When I was 8 years old, I saw a commercial on television where people were sitting around the Thanksgiving table dressed in holiday finery, which prompted me to ask my mother "Why aren't they wearing orange?"

My dad passed away seve...