Well as is my norm these days, life kind of got in the way of my planned blogging schedule and I'm a tad bit behind (again). No worries, I still have a ton of posts coming your way, and I'll get caught up as quick as I can. Of course we are officially on baby countdown, and I may have a short break again; Lord willing I'll be able to pick things back up relatively quickly. So, today I'm going to be sharing all about our family's Thanksgiving fun.
I pray everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving filled with love and treasured memories. Our Thanksgiving was a tad bit out of our norm, but it ended up being one of my most favorite Thanksgiving celebrations.
Normally we host anywhere from 15 to 50 people for Thanksgiving and since many who attend are not dependable to bring food contributions, we typically cook a TON of food; just to make sure there is enough. Since I was 38 weeks pregnant this year, we decided that it would basically just be our immediate family. My parents did end up coming in from out of state to join in on our Thanksgiving celebration. The children were super thrilled that they could attend, especially since they haven't been down for a visit in a couple of years.
With our Thanksgiving crew being minimal this year, we cut way back on the food we prepared for our feast. Usually I make a full spread of appetizers, turkey, ham, a dozen (or more) sides, homemade rolls, and several desserts. We scaled back drastically this year to say the least!
I typically begin my cooking and baking on the Monday before Thanksgiving and this year was no different in that regards. The only difference was that on Monday and Tuesday, it was only one item prepared each day as opposed to four or five.
Monday, I made a giant batch of Doodads snack mix. Tuesday we made some cookies, which I did not plan for them to last until Thanksgiving, but they did ~ yeah! Then on Wednesday we upped our game and prepared a decent amount of food.
Wednesday I pre-made two egg casseroles and an apple breakfast cake. Because no one wants to have to cook breakfast on Thanksgiving Day, especially if you're cooking for a lunch time Thanksgiving meal. We also made a relish tray, bacon ranch cheeseball, and the Turkey. I know, I know, crazy that we cook our turkey the day before Thanksgiving, but trust me it works and it's never dry with my recipe!
My parents, trying to be thoughtful, ordered a Thanksgiving meal from Cracker Barrel. When they dropped it off the night before Thanksgiving, we came to realize every thing pretty much had to be cooked. I won't lie, I had a very pregnant mama melt down, as this was supposed to be an 'easy" Thanksgiving. Thankfully, we regrouped, and with plenty of 'hands on deck', we all handled the added food that had to be cooked. And a very valuable lesson learned: Cracker Barrel's Thanksgiving meals are NOT 'heat and serve'!
I am so blessed to have had so many willing hands helping to prep food, cook, and clean up after all the food we cooked for our delicious Thanksgiving meal.
Not my normal appetizer buffet, but it was just enough really and everyone enjoyed snacking while we visited and cooked on Thanksgiving Day.
One of the must-have items on my kiddos Thanksgiving meal request list was my famous holiday punch. They even agreed to make it for me!
A lovely spread of our favorite Thanksgiving foods.
My favorite picture of the day. The smiles on these faces made all the hard work and tears shed worth it! (Yes, I cried a couple of times in shear frustration that I couldn't be as 'present' as I wanted to be in all the preparations ~ can we say pregnancy hormones, ugh!)
One last picture of our Thanksgiving celebration. All the kiddos with my parents.
My favorite part of the day was after dinner when everyone anonymously recorded what they were most thankful for; then we placed the slips of paper in a beautiful jar my mom bought me (pictured above), and then they were read aloud. I had also kept a written journal of things that had happened to or for our family throughout the year and I shared those as well, which led to some delightful conversations about God's provisions.
While it wasn't our normal Thanksgiving extravaganza, it was a wonderfully blessed time celebrating family and our many blessings.
With Love & Hope,
Jennifer
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