Thanksgiving 2014

It was just us for Thanksgiving this year. It was a quiet, relaxing day. I did most of the cooking and prep on Wednesday and I'm glad I did. The past couple years I've gotten more organized about holiday planning and it has resulted in less stress for me.

Last year I made this spread sheet and it really helped so I used it again this year. I also made extra copies of all the Thanksgiving recipes and put them in a binder so I don't have to track them all down. I did this with Christmas recipes too. I've found it very helpful.

So Wednesday was spent in the kitchen and Thursday was spent with the family. We started the day with homemade cinnamon rolls and, a bit later, mid-morning Wisconsin style Bloody Marys (virgin for me!).

Then the boys played a little football. The weather cooperated nicely. It has been a bit chilly (by AZ standards) the past week, but it was nice and warm on Thanksgiving morning.

Annabeth and I watched and cheered from the sidelines.

Libby loves playing football so after the boys were done we let her out to play a bit. She lines up and runs after the ball as fast as she can. She almost always gets it first, but if she doesn't, watch out because she'll tackle you to get it!

After a light lunch of cheese and crackers with summer sausage, I set the table and then it was time to take it easy while the turkey cooked. Jerry snuck in a short nap. I did a little online shopping and read (I'm reading Gone with the Wind right now). The boys played with their neighbor friends and took turns on the computer. We tried to do a puzzle, but it just isn't the same when Roz isn't here to help.

When Annabeth got up from her nap we took a short walk. We didn't go far because we actually got too hot. Since none of the boys were around to help, Jerry and I took turns shaking the jar to make butter. If you've never done it, it's so worth it! It's super easy and so delicious. As usual, the turkey was done earlier than expected. (When will I learn?) So we popped the side dishes in the oven to warm up and ate a bit earlier than planned.

We decided to cook the turkey in the oven instead of the Nesco this year. I think it gets too dry in the Nesco even if you cook it upside down. It came out a beautiful golden brown. It was a great batch of rolls this year too. You can see the homemade butter in the background. It's kind of a joke in our family to say things are the "best batch ever" but this year I think most of the food really was! As you can see, we didn't stick to our low carb diet today, but it was worth it.

I better add "take a photo of everyone at the dinner table" to the spreadsheet for next year because I always think that would be a good idea but never actually do it.

Now onto Christmas...