Friday, November 26, 2010

Thanksgiving Day

It's been so busy today - the day after Thanksgiving - that I haven't had a chance to post. So, a little belatedly, here's what our Thanksgiving Day was like.

Naturally the day was filled with cooking. Here's my personal favorite, wild rice stuffing:


Since the stove was full, I pressed the woodstove into service:


Into the oven went the turkey:


I had a drawer-ful of dull knives.  Don took them into the shop and sharpened them.  It's become something of a tradition for him to do this on Thanksgiving Day after the time we had our pastor for Thanksgiving dinner, and he graciously offered to carve the bird.  The poor guy went through four or five knives before finding one sharp enough to carve with.  We still chuckle over that.


GG, our young guest for the weekend, asked for a special dish of which she's particularly fond: candied yams.  This is a hideous monstrosity consisting of mashed yams whipped with marshmallow cream and topped with mini marshmallows, then baked.  Yuck pitooey.  But hey, the poor kid's far away from home, and if she wants candied yams, it's a small thing to provide.  That didn't keep us from teasing her unmercifully about the palatability of the dish, however.


Bread stuffing from homemade bread.


While the turkey was baking, I sent the kids out to shovel a path from Matilda's stall to the manure pile so I could more easily clean her pen.


After this they romped with the dogs.


Our guests for dinner were some friends with three teens who had plans to travel several hours south to visit relatives, but were daunted by the snow and joined us instead.  Here are some of the collection of kids, playing a word came.


With nine people total, it's a good thing our friends brought a fold-out picnic table that we dressed up.


Hot out of the oven...


...and carved with a (newly-sharpened) knife.


We called this "north Idaho camouflage"...


...and this we call "San Francisco camouflage."


I hope you all had as blessed and bountiful a Thanksgiving as we did!

8 comments:

  1. Thanksgiving was far from home this year for us; we have recently transferred to Yokosuka, Japan. However, we did manage to prepare a wonderful spread that was way more than the three of us could eat. A lovely day, and we have much to be thankful for, but I miss hills and trees. This year, among other things, I'm thankful for your blog that reminds me of what I have to look forward to in a few years!
    Hope your day was wonderful!
    Ben

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  2. May I please have a wing? Sure looked good! It was a great Thanksgiving - had to drive over the river and through the woods...to sister's house.

    Appears you had a great one yourself. I love the Idaho camoflauge. I wore a fox fur hat (with the tail intact) to my sisters. It was cold (for this area) and that hat sure felt good. I bought it 20 years ago - in IDAHO!!!!

    Thanks for sharing your Thanksgiving with us. Now please pass the mashed potatoes and gravy.

    Anonymous Patriot
    USA

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  3. Save the Canning JarsNovember 27, 2010 at 8:39 AM

    Oh, it all looks so wonderful! The cold snow in contrast to the warm house with fabulous smells and delicious tastes! You are making wonderful memories for your family!

    We had an early Thanksgiving since I had to have surgery last week. On the REAL thanksgiving day,
    I slept 16 hours. I think the family had taco's.
    I guess we made a quirky memory this year!

    Thanks for sharing your beautiful event!

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  4. Oh goodness, Canning Jars, I'm sorry to hear about the surgery! How are you feeling?

    - Patrice

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  5. Save the Canning JarsNovember 27, 2010 at 1:03 PM

    Feeling much better now (minus a couple of pokey/prickly/pinchy drains (probably too much info...sorry)!

    This week I had the opportunity to practice what I've preached (the part about don't put off a surgery or procedure...saving it for Obamacare). I had heard that on page 1001 of the Health Care Law that there is wording for an implanted medical device (RFID chip). Too
    spooky for me. So my decision was do it now, not later.

    I only had one bad glitch (and even though I'm a nurse, I never saw this coming). I was literally calling out to God in the recovery room because I was dizzy beyond belief I would hold my head in my hands yet could not escape the misery. I had to tell myself that God does not give us more than we can handle, and I've got to tell you I was at the brink. I thought about what hell must be like and how I needed to warn people not to end up there as that misery is never-ending. I am THANKFUL God heard my cries and helped relieve my misery quickly. We can truly cast all our cares on Him because He cares for us. He is ever present in our time of need.
    All is going well now and I am thankful!
    Thanks for your caring comments!

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  6. CanJars I'm sure glad to hear you're doing well. Add mine to the prayers going up for your speedy and complete recovery.

    Sure got this done pre-microchip...otherwise we'd hafta wrap ya in tinfoil every time we wanted to take you out!! lol

    Our Thanksgiving was very quiet and low profile,
    since we had no family around with whom to share it. We had roasted lamb shanks. I make turkey or chicken and stuffing a lot, so it's not that 'special' around here. lol I'm not a big fan of mutton or lamb, so once in a while I make it for the Big M as a special treat.

    If AP doesn't want it, may I have the other wing? YUM! (AP, you'd love it around here...we have roasted turkey wings often...with or without stuffing. Mmmmmmm!)

    Sweet potato pie, anyone?

    A.McSp

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  7. A.McSp, don't tell me you like turkey wings, too? Whoa! This is getting spooky.

    -AP
    USA

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  8. We live in the boonies about 25 miles east of Kingman, AZ, and we have few neighbors. But recently two families moved to our area. One from upstate New York and the other from Virginia. The family from NY has relatives nearby and they were getting together for T-day, but not the ones from Virginia. So, we invited the former Virginia folks over for Thanksgiving. They were very grateful for the invite and we were even happier to have them. We're all gun enthusiasts, so we had much in common and many stories to tell. God bless you all.

    ReplyDelete