so very thankful

 

as usual, our thanksgiving was a splendid day filled with too much scrumptious food and lots of fun family time

sean and I hosted this year and it was a huge success! being that I’ve only really cooked a turkey a handful of times, I was still quite unsure of myself. man alive that meal is intimidating! at the last minute I decided to brine the turkey. in typical me fashion, I made myself crazy looking up all things “brining” on the internet, asking my friends their tips (now they are the ones who convinced me to do it in the first place!) and getting myself all nervous about it that I was awake at 4am on thanksgiving morning worrying about that dang turkey!

well…it was the best turkey we all had ever eaten. all 24 lbs of her! and I tried a new stuffing, out of this world, recipe….my gravy turned out and it was just a fabulous meal all around. and my friends were right, we will never NOT brine our turkey going forward. I was very basic this year, but next year, I’ll be doing alton brown or pioneer woman’s recipe (her mashed potatoes are TO DIE FOR!). yum yum!

I didn’t take many pictures of the day, so my memories will have to suffice…lots of laughter as always, the kids making HUGE forts on the stairs and in the bonus room, zachary running around with all dylan’s nerf guns and swords, dad falling asleep on the couch and football on in the background.

we did continue our annual tradition of dylan and his cousins making their gingerbread houses. grandma and grandad construct them and they go to town with the decorating. as usual, a super fun activity, simply adorable and a wonderful holiday memory!

in the end we were full, peaceful and happy.

and yes, I did go shopping for black friday…..no one to blame but my tired and crazy self…ha ha