Giving Thanks

It's a little late, but I had to post about our Thanksgiving Day this year. Part of the reason the post is so late is that we had a houseful and things are just now getting back to normal. But it was a blast. At last count we had eighteen visitors for the big day. We were glad that all of the family could join us for the festivities--including the big feast. Man, did we eat! Every year we have this big discussion about how we are going to cut back and make less food, and yet somehow this year we had more food than ever before. Frankly, I love it. I enjoy leftovers and variety and EVERYTHING tasted fabulous. And after all the company left today, Josh and I had just enough left for one last meal tonight and everything else was gone!
So the meal actually consisted of pineapple glazed ham, roasted stuffed turkey, and Cajun fried turkey, all cooked by Chef Ken who did a marvelous job. Best meats ever. Josh and Tara co-collaborated on the cornbread dressing, and Tara made Nana Sandy's recipe for Mexican cornbread. Being a house divided on the bread and potatoes, we decided what the heck, make them all! (I love croissants, Josh and Scott dig the brown and serve rolls. Steven and I think it isn't Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes, and several folks enjoy the sweet potatoes). Of course we also had cranberry sauce--that is my specialty (open the can and pour it out--my kind of cooking). We also had gravy, corn pudding, green bean casserole, apple Waldorf salad (a new fav from Aunt Judy), and lime salad. And then there were the desserts...Gosh I hadn't even gotten to those yet. Can you tell we are a family that likes to eat??? We had pumpkin, apple, and lemon ice box pies (thank you Aunt Mary and Jessie) Everything was oh-so yummy! And as if all that wasn't enough we needed some appetizers before the meal so we had cream cheese and pickapepper and a cheese ball that we all inhaled. Whew. I'm getting full just reading about all the food we ate!

I got a little nostalgic when I saw dad put the roaster in my garage. My Grandma from the North used to make the turkey in her garage, too. We do like our traditions and this year we played the Great Turkey Game, but with an LSU twist. Much hilarity ensued over the responses to the trivia questions and the rampant cheating that occurred. We are still giggling about the "grit bigot" and "crust monkey" comments (inside family jokes). After the feast and trivia, we headed outside for the annual football game. Luckily I was on the team that kicked butt (sometimes literally despite the rules saying it was TOUCH football, not tackle).

Tara was a little devil and introduced the kids to Guitar Hero (or as Lucas calls it "tar gearo") and it was impossible to tear them away from it. Or the adults. That game is seriously addictive and that's a shame because Josh and I absolutely suck at it. When we were kids controllers for games just had two buttons...now there are like sixteen different buttons. As Josh said to AJ "how do you do that?" and AJ responded "It's easy...its just back back right left down." Ummmm...yes. Well, we are getting old cuz I can't make my fingers move like that!