We hosted our first Thanksgiving this year. I made all the food myself and boy, was that a lot of work. Fun, but a lot of work. I started prepping food on Monday and still had a crazy busy day on Thursday. Here was my menu:
Brined Turkey
Creamy Mashed Potatoes
Coconut topped sweet potatoes
Dixie Salad
Caramelized green beans
Traditional stuffing (made this completely by scratch!)
Cornbread sausage stuffing
Homemade cranberry sauce
Really dry, gross ham that I cooked in the crock pot
Grandma Doty rolls
Banana Cream Pie
Black bottom Coconut cream pie
Chocolate Pecan Pie (super yummy and I don't like traditional pecan pie)
Our guests included:
my cousin Emily that lives near Kirtland, Ohio
Douglas' school friend Hassain
the missionaries
Douglas' school fried Marshall, who is from Japan
I used my china and crystal and set the table all fancy like. That doesn't happen often with kids. I went to the thrift store and bought some inexpensive glass goblets for the kids to use since I do not trust them with my crystal! The food went off without a hitch except for when I moved the turkey up in the oven so I could fit the dressing in and didn't realize that it was touching the heating element. It got a third degree burn. Luckily, we realized (smelled) the problem before it started on fire. That would have been a really exciting T-day!
The dinner conversation was good. Interestingly enough, much of it was spent talking about the church. Douglas' friends kept asking the missionaries questions. It was really cool to have the experience of non LDS friends learning from the missionaries about the church. They both left that night with a Book of Mormon in hand. This was the first time I had met Marshall, but Hassain is a great friend that Douglas met when he was visiting schools before he even applied. They met at Darden and both had planned on attending there. Funny enough though, they both ended up here. He has been coming to dinner at our house since we moved here. He is a great guy!
It was fantastic to have my cousin Emily here. She is a college professor in Ohio and lives about 3 hours away. She is great company and was a ton of help as we finished preparations. We got to have her stay the night. It was so fun!
Of course in Jackson style, as we were putting him to bed, he started tearing up and said, "so we have to wait a whole nother year to have Thanksgiving again? That boy is so tender."
I will post Thanksgiving pictures later today...
Here is the kids table...
My happy little friend.
The adult table.
Our spread. I always forget to take pictures before people start to eat. This is the best we have.
Our desserts. Emily brought a yummy rhubarb cake.
These are the turkeys the kids made. I showed them a picture and they went to work. These are Jackson's.
and Paige's.
Our guests. From left Emily, Elder Randall, Elder Keith, me, baby Bennett (snuggled with me), Paige, Douglas, Hassaun, Jackson
and a picture, taken by Jackson, including Marshall.
3 comments:
I am impressed with your homemade stuffing. I think I need that recipe! Hosting Thanksgiving is a TON of work. I have hosted for years and years and yet I always forget how crazy it is. I sure miss having the opportunity of having missionaries over for dinner. It is a great experience for everyone including the kids. How exciting that your friends left with Book of Mormons. Sounds like a great Thanksgiving!
I love that Jackson teared up about Thanksgiving being over. That means he has a good mama who makes the tradition very special! Very cool!
Wow, I am impressed with all you did. Plus you have a baby to take care of! You haven't let this baby slow you down one bit have you! He looks like he is the happiest, most content baby there is! So happy you got to have the missionaries over and also some non-member friends. That makes for a Thanksgiving to remember for sure!
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