Thanksgiving 2011

The only pictures we got of Thanksgiving were of Lucy watching the parade. We brought the tv upstairs to watch it while we were making our feast. As you can see from the pictures Lucy was enthralled. Thus a reason we don't watch tv. She'd never leave. If the tv is on she is glued. It doesn't matter what is on, the news, cartoon, talk show, she's watching. There was a couple days when kids were sick which means they can lay in mommy's bed and watch tv or movies and Lucy never left my room.
Even after she got dressed she was back in front of the tv.

We had a great Thanksgiving. Most of the preparations took place the day before. Neil was supposed to come home and be my helper (dishwasher) but ended up working late (11pm) and let's just say I was so mad. I needed help with the biggest meal of the year and watching all the kids who too eager to be my helpers with no help was not fun. The next morning I told him it was a good thing I went to bed before he got home. He couldn't tell me at the time but we was working on the Bible movies and app for the First Presidency that was shown during their Christmas Devotional. Forgiveness granted.

Of course Thanksgiving wouldn't be Thanksgiving without a few mishaps and I had plenty. First I had made a banana cream pie and was putting it in the freezer to cool and when I opened the door some mini cheesecakes fell in the pie splattering the pie all over the kitchen. It was the biggest mess. Also I wanted to brine a turkey this year because I've heard such wonderful things about it so I did. On the brining bag instructions it says you need two people to pour the solution over the turkey. Well lo and behold I had no helper so I had to do it myself. Big mistake. As I was pouring the liquid into the bag the bag collapsed and about 2 gallons of sticky salty brining solution flooded the kitchen all over the counters, cabinets and floor. What a nightmare. I had my rolls rising but was running out of room to put them so I put them on stool under the counter and Presley got in trouble and was put in timeout and so she climbed on top of the stool and sat on the pan of rolls smashing 3/4 of them. They were still good for dipping in gravy but not very pretty.

All in all it was a great Thanksgiving. Allison and her tribe came up for dinner along with their neighbors and then for dessert Beka and Matt, Tiff and Abi and Kim and Linda came up. Now I love Thanksgiving dinner but the dessert afterwards is my thing. I've made it a tradition to have at least a dozen desserts and this year was no exception. I'm not a huge pie fan so I also make cupcakes, cookies, cheesecakes, etc. The only problem is we're all still so stuffed from dinner you can't try all that you wanted. Maybe doing dessert on Friday is a better idea.

I was a little miffed that retailers were opening their stores on Thanksgiving night for Black Friday. With Walmart opening at 10pm I just knew people would be leaving family and friends to line up. Retailers seem to already be trying to just brush over Thanksgiving and the earlier start times just prove it. Believe it or not there was nothing I wanted on Black Friday except for dish towels. I didn't get up and go but slept in and went at 10am and still got them so I was happy. It's the first year in forever that I haven't been and I felt bad breaking tradition because I really love being in the crowds but I just didn't have it in me this year. Neil did want to get the legos from Walmart so he went at about 9:45 and when he got to the legos there were only 3 left so he grabbed 2 and was about to get the third one when another lady grabbed it. He waited in line for 2 hours to pay. That I'm not sad about.