Thanksgiving

For my friends who follow me on Face Book you saw my post about what I am thankful for, my God, my wife, my kids, my family, & my country in that order. And it is the truth. Also I posted pics of what I was cooking there.

Our day of thanks was full of lots of fun, cooking, caring and sharing. We were blessed with having all 7 of our kids at home (for most of the day). Turkey went into the oven a little late but it was fully defrosted and I did not have to give it multiple cold water baths before popping it into the oven.  Now I had forgotten to pick up my supply of Bell's Seasonings  which I use for every turkey I cook so the improv was on.... fortunately I had a different seasoning packet available which I used for the bird & the gravy stock. Next came the sweet potatoes & apples, then the stuffing, and then the green bean casserole. Now my wonderful wife had made the final grocery dash on Wednesday but was unable to find any cranberry sauce... don't worry we got the last 2 cans from our local convenience store, but she did pick up a bag of fresh cranberries, and I actually made home made cranberry sauce. In the mean time my youngest daughter made 2 cheese cakes and I had made a blueberry crumb pie the night before, so dessert was covered. All through the cooking Peter kept coming into the kitchen and announcing "Happy Thanksgiving, is the turkey ready? "  So then I made the rolls and Lynn made the mashed potatoes ( I do not make mashed potatoes as good as she does) and the bird was ready! I set it on the platter to rest under the turkey tent and I went to making gravy. Get the table ready and lets eat. Well let me tell you this was one extra special and fun Thanksgiving, great food, fun dinner conversation, lots of laughter.

Now I have to wonder how long this will last. 1, 2, 3 more years. It kind of sucks when your kids grow up. They don't seem to need you any more. But that means we did our job right... right?

And the answer to that is a resounding YES! I am VERY, VERY, VERY, proud and thankful for my older children. In this world where your kids are lured and swayed by so many outside influences, I am happy to report that my older kids keep surprising me with how "good" they are. Let's just say my wife and I (to a small extent) have done well. And for that I am really, really, thankful.

I love that my self taught cooking skills and the ones passed on to me from my Mom, Grammy, & my Dad, can be used to bring my family to the table to enjoy what the Creator has made possible.

God bless all of you that read this. Thanks!