Our Thanksgiving Holiday

This was what I did for most of the day on Thanksgiving...

... but I really did enjoy it. No, I don't want to cook that much every day or I'd never get anything else done. I actually like to cook when I know people will enjoy the food. (Meal planning for picky people, however, makes me want to pull out all my hair, so I don't enjoy day-to-day cooking.)

I didn't do it all myself, though... Dad, Ken, and the girls were a big help, and friends and family brought food, too.

Our menu:

• an appetizer of boiled peanuts;  my dad loves them, and wanted to make them because he knew Lindsey loves them. Ken does, too, so he was a happy camper as well!
• deep-fried turkey -- cooked by Dad
• Honey-Baked ham --Mom
• cornbread stuffing and giblet gravy -- made by my aunt Beckie
• sweet potato souffle -- me
  
• macaroni and cheese -- me
  
• glazed carrots -- me
• deviled eggs -- me (with help from the girls)
  
• rolls -- me (but not from scratch)
  
• chocolate chess pie -- me
  
• apple pie -- me
  
• chocolate chip cookies -- my cousin Shannon
• peach cobbler -- aunt Beckie
• Amish peach bread -- Dad
  
• assorted cookies and goodies -- young friend Shelby (and her brothers!)
  
• sweet tea and soft drinks -- friend Katy
  

We just decided to do Thanksgiving dinner here this year, and we invited our extended family, though many of them had other plans. It was an odd year in that regard, because we usually have a boatload of family  (30+) at our holiday gatherings. We also invited any friends that may not have had family in town, and I even put out a general invitation as my status on facebook! So we could've had an enormous crowd, but we ended up with a total (including our immediate family) of twenty-two people -- and one eagerly scavenging dog -- in our home on Thanksgiving day. Oh, actually twenty-three because my cousin Vera has a baby in her belly! We loved it! Our house isn't huge; if that many people actually lived here, it would be an entirely different story, but I love to have our home filled to the brim with friends and family.

My dear husband has never had the honor of carving "the bird" in our own home (though he's been recruited to do so at my aunt's house in previous years). I briefly considered arranging everything on the table to create a Norman Rockwell moment, but we were all mightily hungry, and that would have taken too long. So I just took a photo of Ken carving the turkey in the kitchen, where all the other food was.
Since we had more than one dining table set up, it was easier to let everyone serve themselves buffet-style. Once we started on food and lively conversation, neither Ken nor I took a single photo. We meant to, but then we'd get sidetracked by the arrival of another guest, or needing to put more rolls in the oven, and so on. So we just enjoyed our guests, and enjoyed playing hosts.

I sure hope your Thanksgiving was as blessed as ours, and if you end up with no turkey-day plans next Thanksgiving, come on over! {wink}