89. Thanksgiving Dinner

I am finally getting around to writing up and sharing a few pictures about our dinner last Thursday.  It's been a crazy month and my time has kept me away from the blog.  Not only did we have a celebration of what we were all thankful for, but it was my hubby's birthday weekend.  Weekend?  Yes, when your birthday is around a holiday it seems like it goes on forever because we are all trying to fit in so many "traditions"…LOL

If you remember I took Cory away for the weekend a few weeks ago.  It was the first time that we had been away together, without kids, in over two years.  It was nice to have grown up time and sit quietly and just listen and talk.  I had printed off a questionnaire of 50 questions that spouses could talk about.  Being married for 25 years you would think that we had talked ourselves senseless and that we had nothing to "know" new about each other.  It's true, we were pretty up to date on the favorite food questions, etc…but it allowed us to talk openly and remind each other of what is important to how we treat each other and raise our family.  We talked for 3 hours and it was wonderful!  I can't begin to put into words what my heart feels towards this man.  He is my everything, my best friend, my all.  I am so grateful for his love and support.

My husband is one of a long list of family members that I am thankful for.  My kids bring me so much joy and happiness.  They teach me daily about the things I treasure,  remind me to stay grounded and show me love.  My external family is priceless, as well.  My Mom, Step Dad and Sisters are invaluable "limbs" to my being.  They have allowed me to exist as "me" and have loved me unconditionally when, at times, I felt no one else had (earlier years…long story….this is a happy post…LOL)

Gratitude is something I used to take for granted as a young person, spouse and mother.  As I get older I am reminded that it is not stuff that makes me happy….but people, experiences and…ok, fine…food…lol

I made these for each of the place settings. The kids thought they were cute.

 With that being said, lets lighten the mood a little and talk about the food that we had at Thanksgiving.  We ate a feast that was fit for a king, or at the very least, a small village.  Cooking a small meal for me is hard to do.  In the past, we have had lots of family and friends over for the holidays.  Our home is usually filled with laughter, game playing and lots of little feet running around.  This year was different.

We moved 2000 miles away from any family and have not met many friends.  It was a small group.  I have to admit, that this was the easiest meal I have made in a long time for Thanksgiving.  I never realized how much work it was feeding 30 people.  My preparation was minimal, in fact, I found myself on Thursday wondering what to do…LOL

I watched the Macy's Day Parade…first time since I was a kid that this happened.  I loved it and we are planning on going next year as a family.  We invited some missionaries to have dinner with us and they arrived at 2pm.  Dinner was served!

We ate and ate and ate.  We had plans of playing a few games but all we really wanted to do was take a nap…LOL

So we chatted until they had to go to their next appointment and eat 2 more meals…poor kids!  I received the nicest thank-you from one of the Elders the next day about how much he enjoyed the meal and that his Mom wanted to thank us for having her son…that melted my heart!  AWWWW

I did the number one taboo for any meal, especially a special occasion…I made brand new recipes!  TSK…TSK…TSK…it's true, I did it and LOVED every new thing we tried.  I feel that I was able to do this because I have been cooking for a few years (wink, wink) and I can read a recipe.  I know if it's within my abilities, I know the cooking methods and I know the ingredients.  I think this helped me to pick the best of the best for our special dinner.

I will share the recipes and the sites where I found them below.

The turkey was amazing.  This can be found at the site named She Wears Many Hats under Mayonnaise Turkey.

The Pecan Pie Bars were to die for!  This recipe can be found at Just a Taste under Pecan Pie Bars.

I forgot to get pictures of individual squares…LOL  Here is the whole batch!

I found the pie crust for the pies at The Pioneer Woman site.  The recipe can be found under Perfect Pie Crust.

I decided to make individual pies and this way we could have ALL of the flavors we wanted: Blueberry, Peach and Cherry.  I will definitely do this again…it worked out great and everyone loved the "mini" pies.

The Cranberry Orange Relish was my own recipe.  It can be found here.


Our rolls came from Taste of Home and can be found under Parker House Rolls.  Sorry, I did not take any pictures but if you go to the site they will show you an image.


Along with the above dinner items we also had:  green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes and a yummy cheese platter for lunch.

Our leftovers lasted a few days, not many.  We enjoyed sandwiches and panini's until we could no longer eat turkey…LOL

This was such a fun family day for us.  We ended the night playing games and watching Lady Gaga's Thanksgiving special (my daughter loves her).  I am blessed beyond measure….I am so thankful