Thanksgiving Day 2010

We had a wonderful thanksgiving day with family yesterday.  

The kids said they had sooooo much fun being together.  They mostly just hung out and played Wii, and I'm OK with that.  It was somewhere below zero outside with the wind-chill yesterday, so it's not like I was going to send them out to play on the permafrost, people.

I did a lot of prep work on Wednesday so I was able to spend the holiday actually visiting with my guests instead of frantically slaving.  Every once in a while I had to pop in to the kitchen to tend to something but I always had an entourage follow along.  Steve smoked the 25# turkey on the grill so I didn't have a bird to check on either.  Nice.

Sautéing of the Shallots

It was just Steve's family this year, so it was an intimate gathering of eleven, but I had originally expected my family to come out too, so I cooked for 20+.  Can you say "left-overs"?!   The food was delicious and there is so much left-over that I might not have to cook anything for a week.  OK maybe a week is exaggerating a bit, but still, it will be a while.

At the Kids Table

Here I am with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law.  We are showcasing the lovely napkins hubby picked up for me.  I was feeling a bit lazy and not wanting to iron the linen napkins I would normally use at such an occasion as this, so I asked him to pick up some "nice dinner napkins".  I was picturing those larger, rectangular ones that are all soft feeling, almost like cloth.  Maybe in a nice ecru.  Instead I get bright orange butterflies on cheap, thin paper.  No biggie.  Not like it was going to ruin Thanksgiving and I wasn't having the Queen over or anything, but orange butterflies? My sister-in-law has all the luck though.  The napkins match her sweater perfectly!

Classy.

And the napkins came in a jumbo pack so there are a ton left over.  Note to self-wear orange sweater to Christmas dinner.  I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday with your families as well!