It Came Early

If Thanksgiving is your favorite holiday, you might want to stop reading right now. Otherwise, be warned: Jealousy May Follow.

We loaded up the family car and headed to my parents' house on Friday to celebrate an early Thanksgiving. First, though, we made a detour and picked up 2 sets of essays for me to grade in the next 3 weeks. And Friday night we had dinner with Joel and Jeanette. Jeanette and I were roomies in college, and we had a great time hanging out with their two boys Landon and Parker--until Juliana and Parker got a dozen eggs out of the spare refrigerator in the garage and threw the eggs all over the garage floor. Yep, we left at that point. But leading up to it we had great food, great conversation, and relative peace as the kids entertained each other.

Saturday was the big Turkey Day.

I thought you might want to know what we ate....

Turkey, obviously, that mom brined. If you have never brined a turkey, do it. Google a recipe or ask me for mine. But do it. The turkey is moist and flavorful all the way through.

Stuffing, that I made with half cornbread, half wheat. Delicious. But next time I would make it with a third each of cornbread, sourdough and whatever other bread I had. It was a little too sweet.

A relish tray with tons of veggies.

Gravy--it's easy. Try to make it if you haven't. Again, I can give you my recipe.

Homemade cranberry sauce.

Pumpkin Pie with fresh whipped cream.

Nothing revolutionary, and yet just typing those menu items causes my mouth to water. It was so good.

Grandma told a funny story about my 6 foot 5 inch Uncle Ed sitting at the kiddy table with my brother and me one Thanksgiving, and Mckenna was able to explain, for the most part, why we celebrate it.

Papa and the kids played baseball went to the park (with Dan too), and after our late lunch Dan and my dad (Papa) took some rifles and went to the shooting range.

Mom and I cooked together, which ranks up there with shopping as one of our favorite things to do together. We never run into each other or step on each other's toes. It's seamless when we cook side by side. I love it.

Next Saturday is our Russell fam celebration. Until then you can find us learning how to install marble around the fire place.