Thanksgiving 2014

Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday. I love the sentiment, the food, and the time off from work. Typically, though, it's been a stressful time for me. We spend Thanksgiving with my in-laws, and while I enjoy spending time with them, I miss my own family and the traditions I remember from childhood. It's also hard because my father-in-law lives alone in a quiet house. The abrupt onslaught of three, noisy, wild kids (and their cousin) is hard on him. I get that. I don't know what it's like to be used to a quiet house, but I can understand that it's somewhat jarring to be invaded all of a sudden!

This year, however, Thanksgiving was amazing! Everyone got along (the adults, I mean...the kids fought as much as they normally do!). The food was delicious (if I do say so myself!) and the time spent together was enriching.

We packed rather quickly on Tuesday night and I was glad to have our Dot & Dot Travel bags because they kids were able to get all their stuff together on their own.  We headed out the night before we had originally planned to leave because of winter storm Cato (why do we name winter storms, now?!) We got there safely, on Tuesday night just in time to say hi and go to bed. Thankfully, we travel in our pajamas! It rained all night, but quickly turned over to thick snow on Wednesday morning, so I am glad we traveled early.

The snow on Wednesday morning

My brother-in-law and his family didn't arrive until Wednesday evening, so my kids had the house to themselves for most of that first day. They did pretty well with getting into everything and fighting just often enough to remind me they were there.

He was hungry and throwing a fit because he didn't want any of the choices I offered (Pretty sure this was more about tired than hunger)

He was much happier later when he got a chance to wear the John Deere gear!

I spent most of Thursday in prep, cook and eat mode. For our Thanksgiving meal we had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing with sausage, gravy (that I'm getting better at every year), green bean casserole, orange-cranberry sauce, crescent rolls, and Ken's dad's oyster casserole. It was all delicious. I'll take the men's word on the oyster casserole!!

And doughnut snowmen for breakfast!

Friday and Saturday were pretty typical day-after-feast days. We didn't do much except play, read, and watch TV. Oh, and eat leftovers. On Saturday my sister-in-law went through a bunch of stuff in the basement. We had a full truck load of stuff that went to Goodwill and another load that went to the dump. It was a lot of work, but it felt good to get it all cleaned out. I only wish I had worn my pedometer!

We left late Saturday evening and again got home in time to go to bed. The kids were exhausted from the trip and it was good to be home. This year will go down in the memory books as a great Thanksgiving!

Ken made it through the snow to celebrate with us, even though he had to work the day before and after.

Cousins...mostly still

#TuesdayTen: I am So Thankful!

I have so much in my life to be thankful for. I could probably make a list that was ten pages long and I'd still leave things out. I decided to go with broad categories so I could like Ten Things I'm Thankful For:

1. The family I was born into: My mom and dad. My two brothers. Various aunts, uncles, and cousins
2. The family I married into: My in laws are the people who caused Ken to be the man he is and for that I am grateful.
3. The family I created: A husband and wife and three kiddos. It's not exactly what I had imagined, but it makes me happy and keeps me on my toes.
4. My friends: I'm very fortunate that I've got great friends who always have my back. Friends who tell it like it is and put up with me doing the same. Friends who can get after my kids one minute and scop them up for hugs the next.
5. My health: I do not take it for granted. I may get the sniffles on occasion, but that's about it.
6. My job: I ask myself every day how I stumbled in to this position with the people that I work with. My job offers me challenges and routines as well as a schedule flexible enough to allow me to still be a mom.
7. My kids' schools and teachers: They are the best! They really love their students and work hard to bring out the best in them
8. My blog and blog readers (that means you!): I have this great creative outlet that has brought me friendships from all over the place! Plus I bring in a little income for my family and get some neat things to try out as well.
9. Books and the ability to read them: I've loved getting lost in books since I was four years old. I hope I never stop being able to dive into the pages of a good book and just get lost for a while.
10. The freedoms I don't even notice that I have: People complain about our country, but they forget that they are fortunate to be able to do so. I am lucky to have been born here in this time and place and to have the freedoms that so many around the world just don't have.

What are you thankful for? Leave a list on the comments or link up your own thankfulness post (doesn't have to be ten items).

An InLinkz Link-up

#TuesdayTen rules and such are here. Please read them if you've never participated before.
Also, we are putting together a giveaway for our first birthday in January. You can purchase a link for only $5 and get lots of social media exposure. Click here for more information!

Cranberry Chicken {Recipe}

I mentioned yesterday that, while I'm not a huge fan of fall, I do enjoy some fall food. It's about this time of year that I start to get a craving for all those yummy Thanksgiving dishes. But I don't want to eat turkey all the time or else I might get tired of it by the fourth Thursday of the month (doubtful, but possible).

I found this recipe early on in my marriage. I have since misplaced the cookbook, but I do this one from memory around this time every year. I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine!

Cranberry Chicken

Ingredients

• 1-2 pounds of chicken breasts 
• 8 oz. Russian or Catalina dressing
• 14-16 oz. can of whole cranberries
• garlic, as desired

Directions

• Place the chicken breasts in a casserole dish.
• Open the cranberry sauce and stick a knife on the inside of the can so you can hear that satisfying sound as it comes out into the bowl. (Just me?  OK. Sorry.)
• Empty the dressing on top of the cranberries. Side note: When I made this last week, I got out a measuring cup to measure 1 cup of dressing from an 8 oz. bottle. I was a little tired that night!
• Add fresh minced or dried garlic, if desired.
• Stir it all up and pour over the chicken.
• Bake in a 375 degree oven for 30-45, depending on how large your breasts are. (LOL!! I can't believe I just typed that!! Still tired apparently.)

Serve

To me it just seems appropriate to have this dish with a side of stuffing. I went with Stovetop for an easy weeknight meal, but if you want to practice your stuffing recipe for the big day, go ahead and do that instead! I added peas for some color, but any vegetable will do. I also served some rolls from a recipe I am testing out for the big day. I spooned some of the cranberry mixture over the chicken right before serving. Yum!

What's your favorite Thanksgiving dish? Do you practice any ahead of time?

Thanksgiving 2013

Ten on Tuesday: My Favorite Thanksgiving Foods

Turkey Day is next week, folks!  Are you all set?  Not here. I should really make a grocery list.  Thinking about making that list got me to thinking about a list for today, so I've compiled my favorite Thanksgiving foods. There's some saying about killing two birds with one stone, right?  Well, I'm not using any stones but technically this list will ultimately kill three birds: the one that actually ends up on the dinner table, as well as one to make this list and one on the shopping list. Poor turkeys!

1. Mashed Potatoes--I like mine with lots of butter and some garlic in them!
2. Stuffing--Actually I call it that, but I prefer not to stuff it inside the bird, so I guess technically it's dressing.
3. Rolls--Ummm...maybe I am a bit of a carb addict...
4. Turkey--I put a few whole carrots, a couple of celery stalks and some garlic cloves inside to roast it.  Then the garlic gets smashed up in the mashed potatoes.
5. Cranberry Sherbet--Including this on my list makes me a little sad because I don't get to eat it anymore (story below)...so I'll also include...
6. Cranberry dressing--I've taught Frances my mother-in-law's secret recipe.  Ken claims it is neither secret nor a recipe, but I think it makes Frances feel a littler closer to her Grams (who is no longer with us).
7. Fruit Salad--This one doesn't always make it to the table, but when it does, I like to mix some tropical fruit with some whipped cream and pretend it's healthy!
8. Green Bean Casserole--technically this started out as Ken's favorite, but I have grown to like it too.  The only problem with making it is trying to keep the fried onions away from Ken until I've used what I need.
9. A relish tray full of sweet pickles, dill pickles, black olives and green olives.  We like to put the olives on our fingers and wiggle them at each other.  Wait!! I mean THE KIDS! The kids do that.  And I scold them...thoroughly.
10. Pie--Not pumpkin or anything, but I'll eat apple or cherry pie.  I just like leaving all the pumpkin pie for the rest of you to enjoy.  I'm generous like that.

My cranberry sherbet story: This was my grandmother's thing.  It's exactly what it sounds like. A delicious sherbet made from cranberries.  It's the perfect ending to a big meal, because as Grandma always explained, it trickles down in all the spaces between the food in your belly and helps settle it down so you don't feel as full.  Now, I don't eat Thanksgiving dinner with my family and Grandma's not around to make the sherbet.

I also should tell on our former neighbor growing up.  Myrtle lived next door to us and had standing permission to get get veggies out of our garden because we always had too much.  She also used to eat the raspberries, which was fine, as well. One year she had Thanksgiving dinner with us and someone offered her some cranberry sherbet. She declined, saying, "The seeds get stuck in my teeth and I don't like that."  We were polite enough not to ask if all the raspberry seeds got stuck in her teeth as well.

What is your favorite thing to eat for Thanksgiving?  Who does the cooking and where do you eat?