Thursday, Nov. 22

Thanksgiving Day! Hope it was as special for everyone else as it was for us.

Up at 6:30 this morning, so I could get the turkey ready for the slow cooker oven. Stuffed the bird with celery, onions, carrots, and apples, rubbed the bird with olive oil under the breast skin, as well as all over the outside, then rubbed a mixture of salt-free seasoning, thyme, garlic, pepper, Rosemary, and paprika all over the turkey. Put the bird in the slow cooker with a couple of cans of low-sodium chicken broth, and surrounded it with more veggies and apples, and let it cook all morning.

Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house, where she fixed a pickle and olive dish, put the deviled eggs on a pretty egg holder plate, and did other things that could be handled while she was seated at a small table in the kitchen.

In the meantime, I cooked the turkey neck and giblets, in order to have a rich broth for making gravy later. I didn't want to use the pan drippings, because it was too fat. As soon as it was done, Mother stripped the meat from the neck to add to the gravy, and the outdoor cats were gifted with the giblets.

Hubbie peeled and quartered a big pan of potatoes, and then around 10:15, I sent Hubbie to Mother's house to put the two dishes of dressing in her oven, while I put the corn and green bean medley in a baking dish, and ham in another baking dish. Those went in the oven around 11 a.m.

Son, Daughter-in-Law, Young Grandson, Older Grandson and his wife and three children, arrived around this time, bringing with them a slow cooker of cornbread dressing, jalepeno deviled eggs, and a pecan pie.

Shortly after they arrived, I put the veggies and ham in the oven, and started the pan of potatoes cooking. At 11:30, it was the usual rush of getting last-minute stuff ready...mashing potatoes, making gravy, heating rolls, carving the turkey, and putting everything out on a buffet table.

Shortly after noon, we were ready to gather for a prayer, and then fill our plates. It was a wonderful meal, with a choice of turkey and ham, mashed poatoes and gravy, both bread and cornbread dressings, corn and green bean medley, a choice of homemade cranberry sauce or the canned variety, a choice of deviled eggs, a choice of sweet or dill pickles, as well as black olives, and hot rolls with a choice of plain margarine or honey butter. Dessert, of course, was a choice of pumpkin pie or pecan pie, with fat-free whipped topping.

Funny: Great-Granddaughter loves deviled eggs, which she calls "double eggs."

Not long after lunch, Older Grandson and his family announced they needed to leave, so Grandson could get back home to go deer hunting. We hurried to take family photos before they got on the road.

Son, Daughter-in-Law, and Younger Grandson stayed until around 4 p.m. Actually, I thought Younger Grandson had left with Older Grandson, but just before Son left, he said Grandson had spent the afternoon outside on his cell phone, texting and listening to music. He's sixteen, so naturally he can't waste more time than is absolutely necessary hanging around his boring parents and grandparents.

While Son and Daughter-in-Law were here, we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, which I had recorded on DVR.

Shortly after Son and family left, Hubbie accompanied Mother to her house, and then Hubbie and I spent the rest of the evening watching TV, including "Son of the Morning Star," a 1991 mini-series about the last days of George Custer, Crazy Horse, and the events leading up to the battle of Little Big Horn. Stars Gary Cole, and Rosanna Arquette.