Thanksgiving 2007

Whew! This was a busy one for us!

Lee is still working pretty hard on setting up new workstations at work and he was leaving at 5:00 am and getting home at 11:00 pm -- long days! I had Tuesday & Wednesday off, so I spent Tuesday doing house stuff, and Wednesday doing shopping and cooking stuff. Since Lee couldn't help, it was up to me to do "our" share of the potluck stuff.

I made a double recipe of the green bean casserole (which I continue to love - yum!) as well as a double recipe of the Stuffing Balls (Stuffing Dumplings? -- anything but Turkey Balls). If you haven't had them before, they are a nice change from the typical stuffing/dressing at Thanksgiving. Our family kind of uses them as the center of the meal, since we're not eating the turkey because it goes great with the Mushroom Gravy (which I also made) and the mashed potatoes, etc.

Diana wasn't feeling all that great, so I put on some CD's and just got busy. The Stuffing Balls actually take a bit of doing, since there's a lot of chopping, measuring, cooking and such involved. I told Lee's nephew Jeff that he and his girlfriend, Amber, should just come from Eugene to our house next year to spend the night before Thanksgiving. Then Amber can help me, and Jeff & Lee can hang out and laugh a lot - because that's what they usually do anyway.

So after 3 Madonna CD's and the Greatest Hits of Barry Manilow, I was all done and I packed everything up to take in the morning.

We left the house on Thanksgiving morning around 9:00 to head down to Mom & Pop's place. We wanted a chance to visit with them before the bigger gathering, and we needed to use the oven! Trevor was going to be coming in at 1:00 downtown, and if there had been any problem with him getting on the shuttle from K. Falls, we would have been close enough to be able to drive out & get him if necessary - however, we didn't need the Plan B, since he was ready & waiting at the bus depot when we got there at 12:50. He'd actually arrived already at 12:30 (note for next time...).

He looked a little shaggy, but still healthy and happy. Turned out the regular busses in K. Falls don't run on Thanksgiving, so he'd walked 4 miles with his luggage to the bus depot! Once he got there, he recognized another student from OIT. That kid had taken a taxi - maybe next time he & Trevor can split the $10 fare :)

In any case, we got Trevor, went back to the folks' to get Diana & Connor and the hot-out-of-the-oven Stuffing Balls and green bean casserole (I would nuke the gravy at Donna's), and off we went to Donna's house.

We had a good crowd once again - 30ish people, I think. Lots of food of course - besides what I'd brought there were chips & dips & veggies to munch beforehand, and the traditional fare with the turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, regular stuffing, turkey gravy and a big salad bar-style set up, and rolls & butter.

Everyone ate their fill! Dessert was mostly pies - apple, pumpkin, pecan & Myrna made a bourbon pecan pie with chocolate that was a nice addition - make that again next year, Myrna!

Connor had eaten all of Grandpa's muffins and jello before we made it to Donna's, so he only had bread & butter & then ice cream for dessert. He led the family grace, however, which was very nice that everyone let him do that - he gets such a big kick out of people following him, vs. the other way around :) Thanks everyone.

I didn't get any photos, even though I had my camera. We also forgot Diana's nut order form, so we couldn't deliver the nuts we had, since we didn't know who got what (duh). So I ordered some nice smelly candles from Daniel for his school :)

Then I drove home while everyone else in the car snoozed (typical).

Happy Thanksgiving!