So Thankful

After eight years of marriage we finally hosted our very first Thanksgiving.  Tom's parents were visiting from Ohio so we wanted to stay home and have a special time with just us and them.

Hosting Thanksgiving meant that it was my job to make the turkey and all the other key parts of the meal.  I know Mom C would have been more than happy to help me, but I wanted the challenge and was excited about taking it on.  I went to The Pioneer Woman for a tested and approved turkey recipe.  I followed step-by-step instructions on how to make her favorite brine, roasting method and gravy.  I also used her creamy mashed potato recipe.  I also made some cornbread casserole, rolls (those I just heated up), a chocolate pecan pie (Mom C called it a Kentucky Derby Pie), and Mom C made a pumpkin pie.

Everything was so delicious!!  The turkey was actually moist and tender, and very tasty.  Which actually made me nervous - I kept thinking maybe it wasn't done and everybody is going to start puking an hour afterwards.  Thankfully that did not happen, everybody's belly stayed nice and stuffed.

 And the honey got to carve the bird, of course.

To remind us of all the things we have to be thankful for, before we began our meal (inspired by my mom I'm sure) the kids and I came up with a thankful turkey craft for all to participate in.  We made cardboard turkey body and stuck him in a call of clay.  Then we made construction paper feathers glued to popsicle sticks and gave everybody two of them along with a marker.  I had everybody write down things they were thankful for on each of their feathers, share them with the family and then stick them into the turkey's clay body. 

 

I think it turned out to be a very fun way of reminding us of what Thanksgiving is all about - except that I can hear in years to come all of the "Ughs" coming from the family as we all do to my mom when she tries to break the mold and do something that requires all of us to participate and share.