Happy Thanksgiving!

I've been feeling the need for a break from my mother's family, so this year we stayed home for Thanksgiving, rather than go up to Maine.

This fabulous day started with R and E surprising B and I with breakfast in bed. This was the first time R had made sunny side up eggs and he did an excellent job. Also on the first time he made coffee. He figured it out just by watching me make it every day. E did the toast. I don't think I can adequately convey what a wonderful surprise this morning was.

After breakfast we all rolled around in bed together for quite a while. The only thing missing was the Thanksgiving parade since we don't receive any broadcast TV anymore. But it was still wonderful. B and I watched an episode of The Waltons while R and E kept busy getting their free food for their pets on Webkins.

Last time I made Thanksgiving dinner I did not especially enjoy myself, but this time I kept my preparations to a minimum. B was appalled to see a box of Stove-top Stuffing on the counter yesterday, but on the other hand he didn't offer to make any from scratch.

The day was very relaxed and enjoyable. I made the turkey and gravy last night so I could have the oven free for other things, and that worked out perfectly. The turkey ended up taking a couple of hours longer than the longest time on the label. I don't know whether that was because the inside was still slightly frozen when I put it in, or perhaps my oven is off, but either way, I had planned for the turkey to come out, and to prepare the gravy at 9:00 pm, and I actually didn't get to bed till 1:00 am. Would've been mighty crappy to be waiting that many hours for an overdue turkey on Thanksgiving!

I heated it up in the oven today in a quiche dish with some water thrown in, and the turkey stayed nice and moist. And I didn't have to think about actually cooking or preparing anything till an hour before we ate.

Dinner was very good. In addition to turkey and gravy, we had mashed potatoes and corn, and a casserole with the Stove-top and broccoli and cauliflower, which was quite good. We also had some cranberry sauce which I made yesterday. I was very happy that it tasted so good since I made it with maple syrup and unsweetened applesauce instead of sugar. Yum!

I toyed with the idea of making some pumpkin bread, but that was a two hour ordeal, and I really did want to keep it simple. So yesterday I made pumpkin cookies instead; a box of spice cake and a can of pumpkin. Spoon on cookie sheets and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Easy and yummy.

Nagy Papa joined us, which was very nice. He had thought he might bring someone from his condo complex who had no place else to go, but it turned out she did. Worked for me since it meant I didn't have to get the boys to wash the walls in the hallway. That's coming soon though anyway since they are getting pretty gross.

I left a message on my mom's voice mail since she didn't pick up when I called this afternoon. I hope she is having a nice Thanksgiving. I miss being with her for it.

It was a beautiful day and we all spent some of it outside. I hope it's this nice tomorrow when we get back to our leaves!

After dinner we watched A Christmas Story which I had picked up from the library this week. And during the end of that we ate some of my pumpkin cookies and the Reese's Pieces ice-cream cake Nagy Papa brought from Sweet Claude's.

Last year for Christmas Nagy Papa gave R a K'nex kit with three pieces of an amusement park. He had cleaned his room earlier this week, hoping that some friends could come over and play (unfortunately that didn't work out), and couldn't resist filling up that empty floor in there! He enjoyed showing of his amusement park (with ferris wheel which had come from Grandma another time) to Nagy Papa. He is now talking about modifying it all. We'll see where this weeks takes us.

E spent a portion of the day creating a laptop computer out of paper and sending emails back and forth with Nagy Papa. And getting his feet incredibly dirty outside barefoot (while R ran around in shorts).

What a great day! And it's nice that since I cooked I have leftovers. We are looking forward to turkey sandwiches tomorrow, and turkey pot pie on Saturday. And I used the carcass to make a stock so we can use that for other stuff this week.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!