Happy Thanksgiving!

I haven't been able to post recently, as life seems to be moving so rapidly! Yikes!

Today was a great Thanksgiving...we celebrated here at home with my parents and brother traveling to our house. This made things easier for us, as we have been running so much lately. It was nice to kind of catch our breath and relax for a day!

Mark's mom had given us a certificate from a local market for a free turkey. (up to 20#!) We went to the store...I was really hoping to get an Empire turkey. These are kosher turkeys, and they are quite tasty. However, when I got to the store, they were sold out. The man at the meat counter said he bought a Marvel turkey last year and it was great. So, I left the store with a BIG almost 21# turkey.

After not being able to clean as I had wanted yesterday, I decided to just go to bed and get up early this morning to do the cooking. This proved to be a great idea! I got up at 4 am and took the dogs out. As soon as I was back inside, I began cooking. I made stuffing, sweet potatoes gratin, garlic mashed potatoes, acorn squash with butter, maple syrup, and cinnamon, and cranberry sauce. I did the stuffing first, then stuffed the turkey and got it ready to go into the oven. I put all of the other sides into the refrigerator while the turkey baked. As soon as the turkey was finished, all the sides went into the oven. While they baked, I kept the turkey covered in foil. I washed all the pots and pans as I worked, and the kitchen was looking pretty good!

When my family arrived, everything was pretty easy, and I actually got to sit down and visit with everyone. No frantic running around, or anything! I decided to eat early as opposed to waiting until late in the day. We sat down to eat at about 12:30, and this proved to work quite well. I washed most of the dishes afterward, then we watched the movie RV with Robin Williams. It is funny...I don't really enjoy sitting and watching TV, but this movie is so funny, I nearly laugh myself onto the floor! Each time I see it, I see or hear something I missed before.

My family left shortly after 5, and Ben went with them to visit for a bit.

This was one of the easiest, most relaxing Thanksgivings I have experienced in a long time. I guess one thing is that the older I get, the more I realize that the world isn't going to stop if I forget something! I DID forget two things....I forgot to make a salad, and I also forgot to get the acorn squash out of the oven! Ah well, everything was good, it went smoothly (even though I didn't have a roaster that was really big enough for that big turkey) and I actually enjoyed relaxing and there was more than enough food on the table...no one left missing anything, nor were they hungry!

As I think about this holiday, I cannot help but be thankful for the rich blessings that have been so lavishly poured out on us. Sometimes life gets us to the point that we feel beaten up, and even spent, but on a day of reflection and giving thanks, we come to the stark conclusion that we have so much more than we can even use....we are so very, very blessed!

And, may you be blessed with love, health, and happiness this day and many, many more to come!

Happy Thanksgiving!