Last Saturday my parents, grandparents and sister and her family came up for an early Thanksgiving dinner at our house. This was my grandparents' first trip to see us since we moved. I was really looking forward to having them all here to celebrate my favorite holiday! It was unusually cold with even some snow in the forecast, but thankfully the weather didn't interfere with our plans.
This was our menu:
Thanksgiving meal, 11/15/14
Turkey, Dressing & Gravy
Crockpot corn
Potato casserole
Sweet potatoes
Green Beans
Cranberry Fluff & Cranberry sauce
Baked pineapple
Rolls (p/u @ bakery)
Mom-pies: pumpkin, buttermilk & pecan and Red velvet cake
Mic: chocolate pound cake
Drinks: coffee, cokes, tea
Thursday I did the grocery shopping and set the tables, Friday morning I cooked and Friday afternoon Lane was off so we went to eat lunch and pick up the dinner rolls at a local bakery--my car smelled so good! I clipped these orange berries from the yard to use as decoration along with some Thanksgiving things the kids have made in school recently.
I thought Crosby did a really great job on his turkey in art class, and I also loved his "thankful for my family" paper and Alexee's fall poems. :)
Grandmother brought a basket of her homemade bread and strawberry jelly-always a treat!
Always thankful for my family--what a blessing they are!!
Grandmother always makes the gravy for us, and Mom had reminded me several times not to forget to remove the neck and giblets from the cavity of the raw turkey. Well, Saturday morning I removed the turkey neck, but that's all I saw so I assumed that was it. So I added the oil and salt and popped it in the oven. Shortly after Grandmother got there she said she could go ahead and start the gravy, so I handed her the small pot with the neck in it. But when she said, "Where's the rest of it?" I knew I'd overlooked something in the turkey, and there was really nothing I could do but admit it. Haha! I'm sure the look on my face was funny when I asked, "Ummm, the rest of it??" We had a good laugh about that, and then we were able to each grab a pot holder and a fork and locate the missing pieces (sealed up in what luckily must have been an oven-proof bag) in the inside of the baking turkey! Alexee happened by at that time and yelled, "Is that his bottom!?!?" :) I told everyone I'd understand if they wanted to just go to Sonic for dinner!
Mom brought me a new electric skillet for my birthday, and she tried it out for the sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes are one of my favorite parts of the meal. They remind me of my Great-Grandmother Wood. I should have taken better notes, but I think Mom just put a little bit of oil in the skillet, let them cook for a while and added butter and brown sugar.
Three generations:
Almost time to eat! Lane carved the turkey for us.
Sweet kids wearing the headbands they'd just made (Alexee made one but decided she didn't want to wear it).
Rhett & Jaiden (10.5), Alexee & Jeryn (7.5) and Crosby (5.5)
The kids are all growing up way too fast. Rhett and Jaiden are going to be as tall (or taller!) than me before long. (I was just looking back
here to see how much they'd changed since we last hosted Thanksgiving.) They all get along so well and love being together.
*****
Sunday was my birthday so Mom brought my usual Red Velvet Cake, which was so delicious. (I was too full to eat a piece after our dinner on Saturday so I had to hide some for Sunday--ha!) Sunday morning the kids were so sweet to make breakfast for me: homemade bread toast, bacon, strawberries and coffee--it was perfect! I ate/drank it all and loved their thoughtfulness.
And I had to record this because I don't think I've ever had snow on my birthday before! We never expect to see snow before Thanksgiving, but people keep saying this is going to be a bad winter, so maybe it is starting early!? It snowed off-and-on most of the afternoon on Sunday, but it was just a few degrees above freezing so it didn't stick. It was pretty to watch though. It was a quiet, relaxing birthday and a very blessed weekend.
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