Thanksgiving 101: The Feast

Well, I did it! I made Thanksgiving dinner!

I know it was a big sacrifice for Mom and Dad to give up their personal Thanksgiving traditions of doing all the cooking to come be teachers for the next generation.

I am so thankful they agreed to this little project. I am very glad to know how to do things “Mom and Dad’s way”.

Our table wasn’t too fancy. I had planned to get out the good china and change the tablecloth. The table looked plenty festive and our everyday dishes were dishwasher safe!

We did use fancy little butter dishes.

Please notice the tiny Thanksgiving table next to the glass of water.

I found this idea on Pinterest more than a year ago. I let the girls make them. They didn’t mind the sprinkle sorting as much this time. The little tables turned out really cute, I think!

The cheese ring appetizer is one of Chip’s favorite parts of Thanksgiving! When I told him that Mom was going to make the Cheese Ring he panicked! He was afraid it wouldn’t be the right cheese ring. I assured him it would be okay since I had gotten the recipe from her.

He was the first one to test it out. Two thumbs up from the Critic.

Well, here is the feast…

You might have noticed a couple of items on our buffet that were not mentioned in a specific blog post.

Green Bean casserole, Mashed Potatoes and Green Fluff.

I felt obligated to have a green vegetable on our buffet. The green bean casserole recipe can be found here or on the back of the French’s Fried Onion canister.

As far as the mashed potatoes go, I’m pretty plain. Boil some Yukon Gold potatoes. Mash them up. Add butter, milk, salt and pepper to taste. Some folks get all fancy with cream cheese or sour cream or garlic or cheese. Plain is the preferred method at our house.

The green fluff is a MUST HAVE at all our holiday gatherings. It’s just the old Watergate Salad recipe.

Ooo, I can’t forget the bread–giant Sister Shubert rolls! They are the best for leftover turkey sandwiches.

How do you like my buttering method-rub a stick of cold butter on top of the rolls right after the come out of the oven.

Katie was trying to take pictures for me. For some reason she was not able to see anything on the camera. Mashed potatoes will do that to ya.

Guess who LOVES rolls?!

What a feast!

Don’t forget dessert. I had to try half a piece of each pie.

Some folks chose to have their sparkling grape juice with dinner, others with dessert.

We gobbled ’til we wobbled!

Thanksgiving naps are the best!

In case you missed the Thanksgiving 101 series, here are all the posts. You can also find them by clicking on the This and That tab at the top of the page.

• Thanksgiving 101: The Pies
• Thanksgiving 101: The Bird
• Thanksgiving 101: The Cranberries
• Thanksgiving 101: The Dressing
• Thanksgiving 101: The Cushaw

 

Thanksgiving BEFORE Christmas

I’ve been noticing a lot of folks already decorating for Christmas. Now I’m no Scrooge, but I’m still enjoying fall and gearing up for Thanksgiving.

I totally get the working on Christmas crafts and the honing Christmas cookie recipes. Personally, I wait until after Thanksgiving to decorate for Christmas. We always get a fresh Christmas tree, so that does play in to the waiting.

When do YOU start to decorate for Christmas?

Here are some of my fall photos…

I know you’re probably saying-Wow! That’s a lot of pumpkins! Our sweet friends over at Fletcher Farms invited us to a pumpkin pickin’ party. We had a blast!

This wreath is one of my favorite decorations, even if it is starting to look a little sad and worn out. I had seen a wreath like this in a magazine long, long ago.

I thought, “I can do that!”

Raise your hand if you have ever said that.

I hurried off to Kroger and bought me some Indian Corn. I brought it home and tried to cut it. Try was about all I could do. It was pitiful. My father-in-law ended up taking my corn home with him and used a big electric saw. Of course, that was much easier.

The middle of the corn was soft. I poked it with an ice pick. Then I threaded the cut corn onto a coat hanger. I realize it is a little out of round, the raffia is lookin’ kinda frumpy, and a lot of the kernels have fallen off the corn. (It is 17 years old.) I don’t care. I still like it. Although, maybe next year I’ll work on that raffia.

This is a picture I yanked out of a Pottery Barn catalog many moons ago. It may have even been Pottery Barn Kids.

I thought, “I can do that!”

Well, I did.

I made these a couple of years ago. I had to make up the pattern myself. I did a lot wrong in making them, but they turned out cute anyway. No, I didn’t make it where you could put the silverware in the leaves.

See why I’m waiting to put up my Christmas tree?