What a fabulous Thanksgiving it was! We have much to give thanks for in our family. My dear niece, Janna and her dear hubby, Paul, hosted the family at their house this year. And what great hosts they were!
Warning: Proceed at your own risk if you haven’t eaten yet today. Pics of food that will make your mouth water to follow…… you can’t say you weren’t warned.
Janna greeted us in the kitchen as we arrived. That’s her Mom-in-Law, Kaye, looking on. From the looks of Janna’s apron, it’s a good thing Kaye taught her son a few things about cooking. Or at least brought him up to realize that the cooking doesn’t always have to be the woman’s job. Great job on the turkeys, Paul!
See? What a fabulous glistening turkey. And it tasted just as good as it looks.
And this one he smoked in his smoker out back. Without even having a Big Green Egg like LaNelle. And man was it yummy. I might have to go get a snack before I can finish this blog! (And no, it was not me who took that bite out of the top!)
I wanted to skip right to dessert when I saw this pecan pie that Kaye had made. Pecan pie is my favorite thing on Thanksgiving Day. Well, pecan pie and pumpkin pie. And dressing. And sweet potatoes. And rolls. And cranberry sauce. Oh, they are all my favorites!
Kaye and I had a roll making contest and from the looks of these pretty babies, she won hands down in my opinion. Janna had us both bring rolls for the day since we have a lot of hot roll lovers in our family. And since I forgot to take a pic of my completed rolls, you’ll just have to imagine a pic of those crescent rolls you saw in progress on the blog yesterday. Might have to make them again, just so I can get a picture! (Now there’s an excuse for homemade rolls, if I ever heard one.)
While the final preparations were being done for the meal, I took the opportunity to stroll around Janna’s house and take some pics for your enjoyment.
She has some cute Texas touches in her kitchen. And some of the walls are painted red and some are painted blue.
This star hangs up high on the kitchen wall.
And this fun picture hangs in the breakfast nook.
There’s a wall of pictures in the hallway…….
…..including this great one from their wedding day.
I love this cute picture that hangs in their guest bath.
And this one! They make me smile.
This saying on the wall greets you as you come in the front door.
There are cool things on the fireplace mantel. I love the picture frame!
And above the fireplace hangs a box with their flowers from their wedding.
Look! Thanksgiving Day was their 4th Anniversary! We got to celebrate with them. With turkey and dressing and rolls and pie and………. but I digress.
Janna made these cute placecards for everyone’s place at the table. This one was for Janna’s Great Aunt Mary who came all the way from San Antonio to be with us.
Here’s mine. I wanted you to see my cute turkey even though this pic was a little blurry.
This is how they looked on the back. Very nice, Janna!
Paul got a special message on his card…..
And these cute little pilgrims presided over the festivities from the buffet.
Back to the kitchen, where things were coming together.
My Sis and her Mom-in-Law (all the way from Florida!) put the final touches on a relish tray.
While Kaye whipped up the gravy so fast that her arm was a blur.
Almost time to take the covers off the deviled eggs, cranberry sauce and pea salad. Yum.
While Jas chewed on a bone in the living room and Dixie desperately wanted to take it away.
Nice, colorful veggies!
Time out for a few people pics!
This is my nephew, Nate, and his girlfriend, Courtney.
And my niece, Sarah, and her boyfriend, Brian.
I even got to be in a pic! Because Kaye grabbed my camera and took this one of me and my Sis. Good job, Kaye!
Paul and his Dad took their turkey carving job very seriously. And if you look real careful under Allen’s arm, there lurks a predator, just waiting for some turkey to drop…….here, I’ll show you……
It’s Jasmine. Or as we all call her “Jas.” She’s waiting patiently for some turkey to drop her way. I think she hoped they’d slip and the whole thing would land on her nose. She had her toes crossed and her eyes wide open.
And then the last minute flurry of getting everything on the table.
Yum. I wanna do it all again. Do we have to wait a whole year?
Here’s the whole gang around the tables. I could only get them to let me take two pics and this was the best of the two. They were too hungry to hold still for more. So Aunt Mary is a blur and you can’t see Jean at all (behind Allen) and Sarah is barely peeking between my Sis and her Dear Hubby (in yellow shirt.) Can we come back next week, Janna & Paul?
Here’s my plate. Except for the cranberry sauce. Because I didn’t realize I didn’t have it until I’d half eaten everything. And I couldn’t bear the thought of filling up the plate and trying to eat again. I knew there was dessert lurking in the kitchen. So there are two rolls, a stuffed celery stick, sweet potatoes, green bean/corn casserole (Sis makes it and it is the best ever!), dressing, Pioneer Woman mashed potatoes (yum!) pea salad, a deviled egg, jello salad, pickles and turkey. With gravy over half the plate. Oh, my! I may not make it through this blog without needing a big snack. I think I hear some pumpkin pie dump cake calling my name from the fridge. Hang on. I’ll be right back.
And after we had finished the meal that took 4 days to prepare and about 45 seconds to consume, Janna had the kitchen all cleaned up, the coffee brewed for dessert and the dishes done lickety-split. But we all waited a few hours for dessert. And I needed a forklift to pull me up from the table.
And this is how it looked after we were finished. Quite a lot of leftovers, isn’t there? Except for it looks like only 2 deviled eggs. We all got leftovers to take home. Enough to feed the population of Rhode Island for a week.
We all went to the comfy chairs in the living room to watch the traditional Cowboys football game. (Notice the quilt on the back of the couch.) And the stairs behind the TV lead up to……..
….. the media room. The man cave. 120″ TV screen. And comfy recliners. Dear Hubby went up there to take a nap. Because it’s dark and the chairs are too comfy. Others went up to watch the football game. Dear Hubby watched about 30 seconds and then watched the inside of his eyelids for awhile. Isn’t that what turkey does to a person?
Soon it was time for dessert. Cherry pie. Doesn’t it look delicious?
But there was more. Pecan pie, pumpkin pie dump cake and a whipped cream/pineapple decadent concoction that Brian brought. And extra whipped cream for topping everything. I filled my plate too full, ate half and then waited an hour and finished it off.
And after all that, they got out the scales! And some of them weighed themselves. But I stayed far away from those scary things. What a silly idea for Thanksgiving Day! But Sarah wasn’t afraid. She weighs 98 pounds. She’s probably dying that I just put that on the blog for all the world to see. But I guess if I weighed under 100, I wouldn’t care who knew it. I might even shout it from the rooftops.
So Sarah provided the end of the blog for today. Because this is the end of Sarah. Her cute little 98 pound self. With bling on her bottom. The end.
Just sayin’,
Barb
