Thanksgiving is always a super fabulous occasion. This year we were blessed with about twenty wonderful people. I absolutely love my family. They amaze me in their own individual ways and personalities and to get us all under one roof is quite the sight. We laugh and tell stories of our lives and things from “way back when”, the kids play and play and play some more. This year, we had some family from Washington join us down here in the Central Valley. It was great meeting some more family (and showing them our crazy ways! haha!)
Every year, right around Halloween, we tally up who wants to bring what to our Thanksgiving Extravaganza! I had Thanksgiving and Christmas all organized on the weekend before Halloween… OCD… perhaps, but it worked! Turkeys and stuffing, cranberry sauce and rolls, pies, cakes, and pre-dinner munchies and drinks all sorted and accounted for and distributed among the families, all before the first day of November. I like things organized…without all the surprises and stresses. Ok, probably OCD.
I made my very first turkey this year. It was, well, interesting. I’m not a fan of raw meat or sticking my hands inside dark crevasses to pull out other icky things (yes, I said icky). It was nothing short of a comical event, in which my wonderful husband took various pictures of (not sure I will share those, bound for the “never show these to anyone” family archive!) After all the gutting and cleaning (and laughter) I mixed my fresh herbs and butter and began to lovingly cover my bird in all its deliciousness. In the end, all worth it, super delicious, though I may leave the that task for another someone next year (now, I can add “cook a turkey” to my life list, haha!) I made homemade cranberry sauce, WAAY more yummy than the store bought kind, green bean casserole and mashed taters. That was just what was created in our home. So much more food was still on its way.
Four O’ clock was our dinner time (which never really starts at 4) and yumminess was everywhere, rolls and sweet potatoes, stuffing and more stuffing, gravy, glazed carrots… I think I just gained five pounds typing this! A feast… to feed the world.
My herb buttered turkey. Yup, its mostly green… but still yummy!
Pre-thanksgiving fun, making turkeys!
Dinner time! (a bit blurry, its from my phone!) This was only half of it.
Dessert is a must! Death by chocolate, apple and pumpkin pie and a yummy soda cake!
This girl was seriously enjoying her night!
We have a special tradition we do on Thanksgiving just for the kiddos. We build either gingerbread houses or rice crispy trees! What better way to kick off the Christmas season than with something made totally of candy!
This year, we made Rainbow rice crispy trees and chocolate rice crispy trees (fruity and chocolaty pebbles!)
Candy-palooza! Sprinkles, M&M’s of various sizes, Hershey kisses, gun drops, chocolate chips, candy canes, marshmallow trees and snowmen, chocolate Santa's and LOTS AND LOTS of frosting! And bit of creativity!
Time to get busy!
Done! On a bit of a sugar rush now…
I LOVE thanksgiving. The family time and memories created and old memories shared. The end of one holiday season and on to the next one, Christmas (and black Friday!)
Happy Thanksgiving (a bit belated, sorry!) to all of my family, near and far. We love you all. And those who are a few thousand miles away, you may be far, but are always in our hearts and on our minds! xoxo.
Until next time.
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