We almost had to cancel Thanksgiving this year. Or do it on a different day, which is kind of the same thing to me. Nick goes to school on Thursdays until 6 in the evening and there are no joker days in Kantonschule. Nobody would feel like eating a big heavy meal that late at night, and celebrating without the entire family there is completely out of the question. What to do, what to do. Maybe we would have to have it on Saturday?
But then everything just fell into place. Always seems to work out that way for me, don’t know why. One of his teachers wasn’t going to be able to teach that day, so he would either get home earlier in the afternoon, or have a super long lunch. We decided to go ahead and have it on Thursday and as the day got closer, we would know if we were eating at lunchtime or in the afternoon. The other kids were super excited about staying home from school and not having to be sick to do it! 🙂
It ended up that Nick had a four hour lunch, so we had a very early Thanksgiving. Which actually turned out pretty nice, since leftovers for dinner meant that we had two Thanksgivings in one day. He came home at ten and was able to be there for much of the preparation, and to watch football. Not that he cares about football, but has become part of our tradition.
The younger ones made the pull-aparts, or monkey bread, that Chris’ grandma always made.
We did it in two shifts, so there was no chance of fighting. Each person got a turn to make the balls of dough, and to be the one to roll them in the cinnamon sugar and plop them in the pan. I love having them work with me in the kitchen. Makes it feel more like a true family holiday.
I was very organized this year, even more so than in years’ past. I made the cranberry ice on Tuesday, the pies on Wednesday, as well as getting the turkey in the brine. The only problem with the desserts being done first, is they have that much longer to tempt hungry souls.
We have always invited the missionaries in the past, but since we have two German Elders serving in the ward, I figured they wouldn’t care about it and skipped it this year. Then I found out the Sunday afterwards that even though he has a German name, one of the Elders is actually American. Doh! I felt horrible. 🙁 Never going to make that assumption again.
There is one food item that always has to be present at every holiday, Grandma’s rolls! That is what the kids call them, since they are my mom’s recipe.
I was so worried about things not being done in time to eat lunch at 12:30, that stuff ended up being done ahead of time. The rolls had a really long time to rise and got nice and puffy. The kids loved it!:)
It was nice to not be too stressed. I need to remember what I did this time so I can repeat it in future years!
I was just the happy chef cooking away, rather than crazy Mom on a holiday rampage. haha
Even though we were eating early, the kids still had a hard time waiting for everything to be done. They kept checking to see how much more food had appeared on the table.
And yes, there was a bit of scavenging.
Although it wasn’t actually real food. They are scraping the ice off the outside of the cranberry ice as it thaws enough for us to eat it. 🙂
We added a couple new things to the menu this year; deviled eggs and the raspberry jello pretzel salad I made last year. Enough of us really liked it, that it made it on to the permanent menu. The sweet potato casserole? Yeah, we scratched that. Tastes too much like pumpkin pie to be worth the effort.
Sarah is slowly wasting away waiting for everything to be ready. Also, I think she is enjoying being able to relax on what should be a normal school day. Don’t worry, she was able to eat before any lasting damage occurred.
Sitting around the table filled with so much bounty, and surrounded by my most favorite people in all the world, I truly do feel blessed and thankful. Happy Thanksgiving indeed!
