We had a quiet Thanksgiving which was nice. I kept wanting more people to join us or something but in the end it was exactly what we needed. We hosted and my mom, Jessica and Nathan joined us for the day.
The day before I did as much prep work as I could – put together my sweet potatoes and rolls, made my pecan pie. I also put the salt rub on the bird. William even helped a bit which he loves to do. The dinner rolls I make can also be made into cinnamon rolls so I did one recipe but only made half into dinner rolls so we could have a few cinnamon rolls while we watched the parade. They are the best!
William helped me roll out the dough and spread it with butter, cinnamon and sugar. He loved to sample whatever he could as well.
Thursday morning I was up early to finish up the turkey and get it into the oven. I had to cook the bacon for the Brussels Sprouts and bake the cinnamon rolls before it was ready to go in. Funny story….I don’t have a pan big enough for an 18 pound turkey so I bought a foil pan. It should have worked fine but I put a metal rack in it to set the bird on. When I went to put it in the oven the “feet” on the rack put a hole in my pan and the 2 cups of chicken broth in the pan ended up in my oven. Ugh! I managed to get it back out and the broth didn’t make too big a mess but now I was without a pan. I called my mom and she stopped in at Randall’s on her way over for another pan. She saved the day! We ended up eating a little later than planned but I was just glad it wasn’t a bigger disaster.
I was really looking forward to watching the parade with William even though he was bouncing around the room and didn’t sit still much. A few of the balloons and shows caught his eye though. He really liked the Sesame Street float.
Ta-daaa! This turkey was really good, I loved the salt rub recipe. Basting it with lemon juice and olive oil kept it moist and gave it a pretty color.
I made a trip to Target on Wednesday to buy flowers for the table but I couldn’t bring myself to pay $10-15 for those small bunches they sell so I came back home and put together the table with what I found around the house. A remnant of material I use to use at bridal shows created a runner. A small cake stand topped with oranges and surrounded by a couple pumpkins and candles. Then my favorite brass candlesticks and an orange, vintage mug filled with ajuga from the back yard. I loved the touch of purple! So I didn’t spend a thing on it and I loved the results.
Mom made a pumpkin, cream cheese pie from Paula Deen and I made a chocolate chip bourbon pecan pie. I didn’t get a photo of my sister’s peach cobbler but it was tasty too!
About to carve the bird and then dig in!
There was corn pudding, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, Brussels Sprouts, gravy, stuffing and three kinds of cranberry sauce! So much food and all of it was so good! I ate really slow to enjoy every bite.
William napped during the first part of our meal and then joined us for some oranges and dinner rolls.
During our meal, I asked everyone to share something they were thankful for that wasn’t expected. Like, something other than the normal things we always say. It was a little harder to come up with something but I liked what was shared. James is grateful for technology that keeps families connected over long distances and I am thankful that I can stay at home with William.
There was some playing and napping and football watching during the course of the day. Jessica, mom and I played Scrabble which was a lot of fun. I hadn’t played in a while. I love that game! Jessica won but it was a close game. Next time, sister!
Friday morning we slept in (praise the Lord!) and then got ready to leave for Castroville. We wanted to spend some time with Adriana, Matt and Maria and I was also doing family photos for Matt’s family. The weather warmed up a bit so it was a nice day to travel and take photos. Jessica and Nathan came for the day too.
Even after a day of fun and lots of playing, William had a pretty rough night and wouldn’t go to sleep. Our plan was to come home Saturday but we ended up leaving Castroville at midnight. I am glad it’s not that far and we were able to get him back in his own bed. It’s usually a guessing game when it comes to him and sleeping in different places. The last time we visited them he did great. Oh well.
Since we had our whole Saturday with no plans we decided to do some yard clean up and paint our half bath. I was impressed with how much we were able to do! I love productive days and now our yard looks better and we finally got rid of the yellow. Only took us 4 years…the new color is a greenish gray called Olivewood.
William was our supervisor when he wasn’t busy climbing the step ladder.
It’s been a busy few days so I am looking forward to a lazier Sunday with my boys. I hope everyone had a relaxing and family filled Thanksgiving as well. I am so grateful for my family and all the time we are able to spend together. Now, we can get things ready for Christmas!
Elizabeth Hafner 