Our Thanksgiving

Do you remember the days when Polaroids were awesome?  When I was 11 I can remember wanting one of those cameras so bad!  And I know this has nothing to do with the post, but that might explain the pictures :).

Our Thanksgiving was so nice and relaxed.  I think the most stressful part was…. um… I can’t really think of any time to be honest!  In fact my whole weekend was so laid back and relaxed.  It was very nice!  It was a little sad because I was missing some family but that’s neither here nor there.

We woke up first thing Thursday morning and headed to my parents house to get Tbug, then we headed down to my grandma’s to see her for a few minutes before heading in to my father in law’s house.

After we ate dinner (aka lunch) at my father in law’s house, we headed home to start working on Thanksgiving dinner (or supper whatever).

We started our turkey to brining Wednesday morning before work.  It has to brine for 16-24 hours.  I think we had it in for longer than that but still, it turned out nicely!

I had hubby lift the 17lb bird up and out of the brine so it could sit in a sink full of water for 20 minutes.  See it was a day of hurry to wait… LOL 🙂

After he hung out in his water bath, it was time to get in the pan so he could roast.

While the bird was roasting, I was teaching Tbug how to formally set the table.

Her table turned out quite nice… don’t you think?

Then she wanted to help with cooking so I showed her how to use the micro-plane so we could get orange zest for the butter that we rubbed All Over the bird.

Then came time to smear the bird.

My parents & my father in law came to our house for Thanksgiving dinner.  My FIL helped hubby carve up the bird.

Here was our dressing… We weren’t sure at first about it because of the apples but oh wow!

Now it’s time to eat!

I didn’t really do anything but plan everything in my head in advance.  I read through the recipes a couple times.  I’m not so sure that I could have timed it all better if I had tried!  When the bird came out to rest, the stuffing & potatoes went in.  The corn casserole cooked away in the toaster oven and was done at the same time.  It was perfect timing.  Maybe I should stop there and not try another one… I’m not sure I could do it again… LOL 🙂