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Thursday, December 3, 2009

The Holidays...

This year for Thanksgiving, we were having FOUR dinners.  Yup, FOUR.  Now, one of them was for our small group; but it counts when you have to get everything ready and kids out the door!  That one went pretty well.  There are a bunch of kids in the group and so the food went pretty quickly.  ;-)

The next dinner was the weekend before turkey day.  It was at my dad's.  We haven't had a turkey day with Dad in I don't know how many years.  On top of that, all of my siblings were there; togther, in the same house.  But the reason that is so monumentous is another story and frankly one I don't have the heart to drag out again.  I don't think my heart could handle it, so we will leave it at that.

The evening went well and there was too much food!  I tried to control myself and just have a little of each thing.  I did pretty well, but there were other people, who shall remain nameless, that had to undo their pants to get comfortable!  lol

We got to wait a week for the next dinner.  On Thanksgiving, we went to Steven's parents house.  It was loud and full and fun.  There are ten grandkids between four families.  (we have the most kids!)  Two more are on the way.  (no, we are not one of the expecting couples.  that's not even funny.)  We didn't do too much snacking, but we completely pigged-out on the dinner!  Then, the desserts were brought out and then I had to undo my pants! 

Two Pumpkin Rolls was devoured in about ten minutes.  That doesn't include the Pumpkin Pies!  We rounded off the day with football.  It doesn't get better than that.  Well, okay it would have had the Cowboys lost.  But, you can't have everything!

The last dinner was at our house with my family. (my mom and step-dad)  I have hosted Thanksgiving before, it's not usually a big deal.  This year, however, I had to cook the turkey.  Seriously.  Every year, we alternate the buying and cooking of the turkey and each year I have successfully given the job of cooking it to someone else.  They finally caught on to me and I was stuck.

I bought the turkey and was proud of myself for buying the biggest one I could find-23lbs!  I talked to my mom every day leading up to the big moment for advice, instruction, and encouragement.  I really didn't want to mess up the main dish.  On top of that, Robin, was demanding to have copious amounts of turkey!  No pressure.

I set the turkey out to thaw, put it back in the fridge overnight and prepared the kitchen for the next day.  The older two girls were spending the night with friends until we got a call at midnight saying that our 10yodd blew chunks all over their carpet!  Yum!  Steven went and retrieved the offending child and I proceeded to stay up all night holding her hair back. 

When 4am came I decided that I would start the turkey on low and try and go back to sleep.  Steven could take over barf duty for a while.  I called my mom at 5am(she said I could) to make sure that I remembered everything and to warn them about the barfing.

Sleep came very quickly and I woke to the smell of turkey.  mmmm  It was 8:30am and I had just enough time to get the rest of the things before everyone got there.  Or so I thought.

I was on a roll, when I noticed that the turkey was really smelling...done.  There was no way.  We had worked out the time and it was supposed to take until noon to get done.  It was only 9am.  I picked up the lid and was greeted with the bare bones where turkey meet used to be.  I froze.  What did I do now?

Mom showed up and I quickly ushered her over to the turkey.  She immediately pronounced the turkey done.  We could have Thanksgiving breakfast if we wanted.  ugh

How in the world did I cook a 23lb turkey that quickly?  Who knows!  We finished up all the rest of the food and let the turkey rest.  It all worked out and if I do say so myself, it was delicious!

Now, that all of the turkey day celebrations are over, I realize that Christmas is fast approaching and I don't have anything done.  I'm not ready; at all.  Do you think they will postpone it for me for a few more weeks?   Nah, I didn't think so!


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