Thanksgiving

This year was different than years’ past.  We ate in the evening rather than the afternoon, to accommodate Nick’s crazy school schedule, but it was still a great day  and we had lots of fun and together time.

Since the kids already had the afternoon off due to teacher training, I didn’t use a joker day.  They were a little bummed that they actually had to go to school on a holiday!?!, but I don’t think they were scarred permanently.  I did my usual cooking and baking ahead of time, which made the actual day stress free and very relaxing.  I don’t think I will mind if we have to permanently switch to eating in the evening, for this reason alone. 🙂

But even though I wasn’t stressed, there was still a lot of cooking to be done  So I picked up some ready-made pizzas on my last-minute run to the grocery store for lunch.  The kids were thrilled.  This kind of convenience food is a rare occurrence=treat in our house.

I consulted my turkey guru, Alton Brown, for a quick reminder on exactly how long to cook the thing, and the little kids were enchanted.  They spent the next while clicking on Alton Brown videos, laughing hysterically all the while.  (He did have a couple rather funny Thanksgiving ones.)

Sophie got us all in the spirit by donning her customary attire. There was also football on tv, and card games to play. The missionaries were supposed to come at 6, which was perfect, since Nick didn’t get home until 5:45.  Well, his train was late, so he missed his bus, so he didn’t get home for a while.  We tried to call him, but he had his phone turned off, and we were just about to panic and go looking for him, when he walked in the door.  We did get a call from the missionaries, though, just a few minutes before they were due to arrive informing us they were still in Zurich!  Yeah, not cool.

We started without them.  I had everything timed pretty perfectly, to be ready and finished at the same time, and there was no reason we should all eat cold, dried out food.  It was quite fabulous, I might add.  The menu consisted of;

garlic mashed potatoes, that stay warm in the crock pot,  Pecan, apple, and pumpkin pie, that was staying cool in the fridge, my mom’s rolls, and for the first time ever, sweet potato casserole.

Sophie and I set the table.  I just love my tablecloth.  It’s so perfect for autumn!  Thanks again, Tanya. 🙂  If you look close you can see the giant veggie tray with ranch dressing, and the pull-aparts (monkey bread) just waiting for hungry folks to devour them.  The proud and happy cook!And notice the empty sink!  Yes, for the first time ever, when we sat down to eat, the only dirty dishes were the ones on the table! A definite achievement!  But it made clean up afterwards so much easier.  Another bonus to eating later on.

We bought our turkey for dirt cheap in Germany, and also had ham for those non-poultry eating members of our family.  In fact, when I went to wake up Noah that morning for school, the first thing I said to him was, “Happy turkey day!”  And he responded with, “You mean, happy ham day!” 🙂 I had to pre-carve the turkey and hide the carcass under a layer of aluminum foil, so it wouldn’t freak out Sarah too bad.  Still, the wings and drums were too much for her, and she ended up eating dinner like this.Reminds me of that guy on Fat Albert who had eye holes cut out of his hat!  Only she didn’t want the eye holes. haha

I am not sure it’s really the ham that Noah loves so much, as it is the barbecue sauce he dips it into.  He even puts it on his rolls!I always make sure to have a brand new bottle just for Thanksgiving, so there will for sure be enough to go around. 🙂

I have to give a special shout out to Sophie here.  Without her help, willingly and happily given, our Thanksgiving feasts wouldn’t nearly be as pretty or as fun.  All the kids help out in little ways, but she really goes the extra mile, doing whatever I need her to, and LOVES to make sure the table is as pretty as possible.  Thank you, Sophie! I also made two kinds of jello this year.  One just plain, like always, and for fun, a new recipe.  It had a pretzel crust, a layer of sweetened cream cheese, and then jello with fruit on top.  I was so happy when one of the Elders picked it up off the table and exclaimed, “Oh I love this stuff!  My mom makes it every year!”  Score one hostess point for me.

Alexandra had a rather unique meal.  With the main ingredient being sugar.  But she did do some heavy snacking from the veggie tray, so I think it evened out in the end.

It was a wonderful holiday, filled with all the traditional things; family, food, fun, football, and even food comas!