springdellgirl

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!




I stole this survey off my friend Naomi's blog. I had a great time reading hers and it's a great way to summarize everything.

Do you cook all or part of the Thanksgiving meal?

I always only cook a part of the meal thank goodness!! I have never cooked a turkey in my life!This year our contribution was lots of homemade parkerhouse rolls (Tyler actually made all of them...yehaw!), two pies: Southern Pecan and Buttermilk Pecan, and my grandma's recipe for sweet potatoes, and...the non-alcoholic beverages.

Do you eat at home or somewhere else?

We always go elsewhere. Usually to my mom's house or to the lake. This year we went to Stacey and John's house due to the imminent arrival of their baby. Stacey was GINORMOUS (I say that with all the love of someone who has been ginormous 3 times already). Stacey looked ready to pop at any moment...so no traveling for her!! ;)



White meat or dark meat?


I'm not a big meat fan...hence our vegetarian kids...but I do eat a little turkey on Thanksgiving and it is white meat all the way!! Truth be told...my favorite part of the turkey is the crispy skin!! I love it!

Stuffing with giblets or without?

I do not partake of anything with a revolting giblet involved. Thank goodness we never have anything to do with them. Although one of the grosser things each year is to view is my mom and Kirk fighting over the heart. I could vomit just thinking about that!

Is there anything you won't eat at the Thanksgiving meal?

Well...apparently a giblet or an organ of any kind. I hate dark meat. And the thing I get the most crap for...I LOATHE and DESPISE apple pie!! (Thank goodness Tyler does too!) I don't like candied yams with marshmallows. (I make my grandma's sweet potatoes with brown sugar and butter...a COMPLETELY different dish.)




Kris and Ty...apple pie haters...I KNOW...we're freaks...we've heard!!

Do you carve the turkey at the table or serve it on a platter?

We carve the turkey and serve it on a platter. We have to. I am not the only crispy turkey skin lover...that bird looks pretty homely by the time we have ripped all the skin off. One cry of "Who wants skin" gets most of us running for the kitchen.

Favorite pie?

Hmm...that's a hard one. I LOVE PIE! I usually have to have a sampling of each. The pie that I MUST have at Thanksgiving is Pecan Pie.

Formal table or chinet?


Formal table...it is our family's tradition to have our Thanksgiving Dinner in the evening and always by candlelight. This year Dane wasn't so thrilled with having the lights off and tons of candles glowing. He kept running over to the light switch and turning it on and saying "That's better!"



The kid's table...I don't have very many pictures of Reilly because she was busy helping to wrangle all the little guys. She is wonderful!!

Your Menu:

We had an amazing dinner this year:

Appetizers:

Stacey's friend Lavina's Baked Brie with Rosemary in Phillo dough with apple wedges and chutney...clutch the pearls it was amazing!! (Yes...I begged for the recipe and she is supposed to get it to you Stac to get to me!)

Kelley's fabulous beef and shrimp lettuce wraps..new family fave!

Austrian Sausage (contributed by Uncle Steve)

Apples and Satsumas

Main Course:

My Mom's Turkey that was brined and then basted for hours in butter and white wine

My Mom's Killer Mashed Potatoes: made with sour cream, half and half, butter and cream cheese.

My Mom's "Liquid Gold" gravy...gravy so good you could drink it...and nary a giblet is involved!

My Mom's traditional sourdough, sage, and sausage homemade stuffing.

Brussel Sprouts Roasted in butter and Worcestershire sauce (Kelley made them this year...they are a must-have every year.)

Green Salad (Made by my cousin Tania)

My Mom's amazing cranberry sauce

My Grandma's E.'s Sweet Potatoes (made this year by me)

Homemade Parkerhouse Rolls (made by Tyler)

Green Beans (made by Tania)

(We usually have homemade noodles too but we didn't make them this year...Kelley was distraught!!)

Dessert:

Pumpkin Pie (made by my Mom)

Apple Pie (made by Stacey and John...he did the crust and she did the filling...how lucky are we to have husband's who cook!!)

Southern Pecan Pie (made by me)

Buttermilk Pecan Pie (made by me)

Key Lime Pies (made by Stacey)

Favorite leftover?

Pie (I love it the next morning for breakfast) and mashed potatoes and gravy!

Extended family or just immediate family?

Thanksgiving usually involves extended family including anyone's random in-laws who are in town and friends. This year we had: Stacey, John, Dane, my Mom, my Grandma, my Uncle Steve (my aunt Margaret was visiting her family in Indonesia), my cousin Tania, her date Kyle, Stacey and John's friends, Jeremy and Lavina, and all of us. This was a pretty small group for our family.

After dinner do you go to the latest movie, watch football or take a turkey-induced snooze?

We usually talk and laugh and laugh...play games...but Tyler usually manages to take a turkey-induced snooze!

Do you watch the Macey's Parade?

Yep! As I've said before we are "parade people" plus eating later in the day allows us to watch while we are leisurely getting ready. But the biggest excitement is the "Westminster Dog Show".WE LOVE THAT!!

Christmas decorations up before or after?

We always go and cut down our Christmas Tree the day after Thanksgiving and usually get all our Christmas decorations up Thanksgiving Weekend but NEVER before Thanksgiving. I don't like to mix the two holidays!

Black Friday shopping or sleeping in?

DEFINITELY sleeping in! We got home from Stacey and John's at 2 am. Luckily Kelley rode with us and so we had Tyler get in the back and Kelley rode up front with me and we chattered and laughed the whole drive home!

Favorite thing about Thanksgiving?

Being with family, expressing gratitude for our many blessings, eating amazing food, reminiscing about times and loved ones past, laughing, laughing, and more laughing, and creating new memories.

Reilly, Ailey, Kameron, Dane and Aunt Kelley. We REALLY missed Kirky, Jayme, Kaiden, Aaron and Jordi.

Ailey and her buddy Uncle Steve or as she calls him "Uncle Steb". They are cute together.






This is my mom's brother the infamous "Uncle Steve" those of you who have met him NEVER forget him!! Tyler was the first "boyfriend" to come up to the lake to meet the family. As a result Uncle Steve took it upon him to give him "the lake test"...is he cool enough to be in our family and will he fit in. My uncle is a notorious pest and loves to tease people. Tyler came up for the first time over Thanksgiving. Part of Tyler's lake test was that he had to wrestle my Uncle Steve...poor Tyler...I feel bad now but at the time when Tyler looked at me like "You've got to be kidding me" I just grinned and said "You'd better do it!" Tyler promptly took the old man down...even after Steve's many sad attempts at cheating. Tyler was then challenged to play ice hockey. This is a BRUTAL family event that no one leaves without bodily harm. Whose butt was Steve trying to kick...Tyler's...who had shown him up in wrestling. The lake test continued on for a year with things like trying to kill Tyler while water skiing , flipping him off tubes at high speed, highly competitive basketball games and beyond. For the first 5 years of our marriage Steve would take Tyler aside at family events and say things dead serious like: "So...are you beating her yet?" all while giving Tyler a mean and menacing glare. Due to having an absentee dad this amused me to no end watching Tyler deal with my pitbull of a protective uncle!! But as you can see Tyler passed the test and they are buddies.





Ailey wanted to have her picture taken and posed for several shots!! Very cute!!

Favorite Thanksgiving memory?

So many to choose from...I usually enjoy the one I'm currently experiencing the most. But I would have to say...Thanksgivings with Aunt Ladye, the Thanksgiving we had at the lake when my grandparents house was still under construction, the Thanksgiving I brought Tyler up to the lake to met the whole family, and Thanksgivings with Grandma and Grandpa M. and Grandpa E. top the charts.

Thanks for hosting this year Stacey and John. It was wonderful. Both Stacey and Lavina are due on the same day and so we were hoping maybe one of them would go into labor during our meal...but no luck. Lavina's sister went into labor the night before and she got a phone call during our dinner that her sister had had a baby girl named, Ada. Come on Stacey!!

Push it out! Shove it out! Way out! We've got a long weekend for heaven's sake!! We are ready!!