A Success

It wasn’t so hard.  I was so worried about making the turkey for everyone that I stressed about it way too much. I was texting my Aunt Dale throughout the process.  It was ready much sooner than I calculated it to be.  21 pounds at 325 according to all of the websites I read, told me 20 minutes per pound.  That should have been 7 hours.  It was ready in a little over 5.  It wound up being delicious!  Perfect actually!  Even Drew – who is not the best eater, devoured a turkey wing right down to the bone!

My grandma, who wanted so much to help, hosted the feast.  We each brought the food.  We did have her delicious sausage stuffing which she insisted on making herself.  It would not be Thanksgiving without that on the side!  Aunt Dale made all of the sides and my brothers brought the desserts and the drinks.

Normally a family dinner includes so many of us, we are gathered at two or three tables.  We’d never fit around just one.  This year, since my sister and my cousins go with their in-laws for Thanksgiving there were only 13 of us.  This meant we could all fit around the dining room table.  Since this never happens, it was actually quite nice. Usually it is noisier, with all of us yelling from one room to another to keep up with all  of the conversations that are going on at once.  By all sitting down at one table, we were able to actually carry on one conversation at a time.  Aunt Dale had us each go around the table and say what we were grateful for. This brought some tears – Aunt Dale is like me and VERY emotional but for the most part, it was light-hearted and my Uncle Bucky provided us all with his usual humor making us all laugh throughout the meal.

None of us left that table hungry!  That’s for sure!  We couldn’t even eat dessert right away!  We saved that for a little later as the boys watched a football game and Dale, Dave and I cleaned up.  A few years ago, we found that Party City has some really nice disposable dinnerware and that makes clean up much easier.  The utensils looked as if we were using real silver but in the end, were all thrown away.  Saves time and makes it easier for everyone!  If you looked at the table in the photographs, you’d never even know it wasn’t the “real thing” – something our family really doesn’t care much about anyway!!

It was such a nice, quiet Thanksgiving.  I thought of mom a lot throughout the day.  I am sure she was with us the entire time.  We knew for sure she was there while Drew and I were watching the parade on television.  My mom loved the parade.  She never missed it on television. She had certain favorites and would call as they would pass.  As The Wizard of Oz came across the screen, Drew said, “This is the exact time Grandma would be calling us.”  At that same time, the phone rang.  We looked at each other!  Neither of us recognized the number on caller ID but I thought I should answer it.  At the second ring, I picked up and no one was there.  Odd.  Chilling, but totally satisfying.

Tagged: family grateful, family meal, grateful for family, loved ones always around us, signs from loved ones, thanksgiving success