Thanksgiving 2011

I have so much to be thankful for this year!  Of course, Thanksgiving isn't the only day we should be thankful, and in my heart and mind I am thankful to God every single day...but because it's Thanksgiving I like to make it a point to let others know that I'm thankful for them.  It's bittersweet because this is the first Thanksgiving with my dad gone, and also Abigail's first Thanksgiving.  But again, I'm just really thankful for every one in my life and every thing I have, and I'm thankful for my past and all my experiences that have made me the person that I am.  I'm also definitely thankful for everything that I'm not--  I'm not poor, I'm not homeless, I'm not sick, I'm not sad, and I'm not lonely.  It's so easy to take all of that for granted.  I know I am so blessed.

In terms of plans for Thanksgiving, this year is different from past years because I really needed to step up and take charge with cooking and making sure everything comes together for my family.  The morning started with Michael dropping me & Abbie off at my mom's at 9 so that my sister and I could get straight to work.  The plan was to cook a 23 pound turkey, a 10 pound ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, a modified green bean casserole, and a pumpkin pie.  With only 1 oven and tons of things to cook, I was really nervous...especially since I've never made a Thanksgiving dinner before.  I was so novice, in fact, that up until it was time to head over to my mom's house, I was watched YouTube videos on how to cook Thanksgiving dinner.  haha

My sister made the stuffing and I prepped the turkey.  Since it needed to cook so long, you'd think we'd have lots of latent time to just hang out.  Quite the opposite.  We were running around trying to figure out how to get everything cooked, especially since everything needed to be done in the oven and my mom's oven is small.  Still not quite sure what I did, but I must have done something right, because dinner was SOOOOOOO AMAZING!  Everything was cooked and done on time.  :)

Massaging the turkey with all sorts of spices

Turkey came out sooo moist and juicy, and the cornbread stuffing was TO DIE FOR!  :)

Ham with my mom's brown sugar glaze recipe

Modified green bean casserole (we added carrots & mushrooms too)

Abbie hanging out while everyone ate dinner

Eating her first Thanksgiving dinner - Turkey and Sweet Potato baby food

SO thankful for my family

Hanging out with family