Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Thanksgiving Happenings

We had a house full of company for Thanksgiving this year. Jeff's parents, his brothers, Joe & Jon & Jon's girlfriend, Stephanie Hoffpauer, all came for the weekend. Also, for Thanksgiving dinner, we had Alicia & Dwight & Ana & Shane. It was a lot of fun... so much so that I didn't take many pictures. So... some of these are from Joe's camera.

This year was my first to roast the turkey. I was very nervous about how it would turn out, but it actually was much easier than I thought it would be. I consulted Martha Stewart & she suggested a dry brine of coarse salt & crushed bay leaves. I let that sit in the fridge for 24 hours (should have been 48, but I didn't start thawing the turkey soon enough). Then, the night before Thanksgiving, I rinsed all the brine off, stuffed the cavity with onions & celery & then generously rubbed it down with butter. The next morning, I put it in the oven around 6:15 & kept basting it every half hour with melted butter & cooking wine. It was roasted to perfection by 9:30 & it really was delicous! (Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of it before it was carved.)

Everyone enjoyed watching Grant eat enormous amounts of food. The child is a "bottomless pit" when it comes to eating table food!

We played lots of games...

...Cranium

...& Quiddler, just to name a few.

There was so much excitement that the kids kept going until they finally succumbed to sleep --wherever they could find it!




We got to spend some time at Uncle Bill & Aunt Judy's on Friday.



We had Grant's dedication on Sunday morning. Grant fell asleep while Grandpa was praying!

The highlight of the whole weekend was getting to meet & get to know Steph. She is such a sweet girl & a perfect match for Jon! Ryleigh & Grant have already adopted her, so I know that she passes their approval, too! ;-)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like you all had a wonderful holiday. So glad Jeff's family got to come.

Turkeys are fun to cook. They are pretty hard to ruin. You can always count on our friend Martha. You are giving Martha some tough competition with the decorating. Can't wait to see your new home.

Love & Hugs,
Aunt Barb

Charity said...

How fun! Isn't Stephanie a sweetie!? Her mom and my mom have been friends since they were girls, and I've know Stephanie for years. I didn't realize she was dating your brother-in-law. Small world! :) So glad you had a good Thanksgiving!