First off, some shots of the decorations. I didn't do a whole lot- just swapped out the ceramics and prints (from Craftily Ever After) from my Halloween decor for more Thanksgiving-themed items.
I had wanted fresh flowers, but wasn't willing to pay the non-bargain bouquet price at Sam's. Instead, I took my previous bargain bouquet (already almost 2 weeks old), tossed what was bad, and cut the rest down to mini-bouquets for my Anthropologie monogram mugs.
I started cooking bright and early Thursday morning. First up were pecan pie and a loaf of French bread (in the bread maker), followed by a batch of pumpkin spice cupcakes.
I think I went through four pounds of butter and more than a dozen eggs before I was finished with all the cooking...
Since we weren't having a home-cooked Thanksgiving until Friday, Darren and I decided to duck out of the house and have lunch at Cracker Barrel on Thursday. I had the most lovely mug of hot chocolate...
...with our wonderful meal.
Then it was back home and more cooking while we waited for my family to arrive. They got there in shifts, so I made a couple of pizzas for dinner...with homemade crust and fresh mozzarella. :)
Somewhere after making that pizza, I completely lost any time I had to take photos. I did, however, take time out to go to Michaels sale on Thursday night (I needed some project boxes, and they had them 55% off plus a 30% coupon- can't beat $2.80 each!).
I didn't take many photos on Friday, either. That could have something do to with my Friday starting at 3:30 am! Darren and I got up and went to Target to scoop up a few items they had on sale (an early start to Christmas shopping). The line was insane- all the way to the street on both sides of the store. I'm not usually a big black Friday crowds kind of shopper, but for some reason this year I enjoyed it.
I enjoyed it so much that Beth and I got out again a little later in the morning to go to Old Navy and Bath and Body Works. :)
The rest of the day was cooking, cooking, and more cooking. The ham and turkey were easy- they just had to sit in the oven and bake. Unfortunately, I also had a lot of sides and a tiny oven (who am I kidding, the whole kitchen is tiny and sadly lacking in counter space), which meant that even after the main courses were done, it was another hour and a half of baking just to get everything cooked. Thankfully I had a lot of help, and we'd done a lot of prep work beforehand.
To make up for the lack of counter space, I covered every available flat surface with food and food prep items.
Warning- my kitchen is old and scary. Hopefully I'll have the time to remodel it next year.
I don't know why I included this shot...maybe because my iPad is sitting off the to side. It got a LOT of use as an electronic recipe card.
I never got a shot of the whole spread (like my TV tray buffet?). Thankfully Darren grabbed the camera for me and took a few pictures, or I wouldn't have any!
A bunch of the food was served in the kitchen, too. It's a small house (I'm not complaining- I absolutely love it), and we had 7 people staying within its 1238 square feet. I had to make use of every inch of it.
Here's a random cute Beth and Sophie shot.
And a random funny shot of my brother.
And a not so random shot of Darren carving the ham. You can see a bit more of the buffet in this one.
And then the turkey. I decided to only cook a turkey breast this year, and, oh, my, was that ever a good choice! I cut slits in it and stuffed little pats of butter into them. It was soooo juicy!
My Mom's plate- she ate a little of everything, and then went back for seconds!
I had a ton of dough left after cooking the first batch of dinner rolls. Little Sophie bug had fun playing in it.
And then she got her feet into the action, just like in the old country. Oh...wait....and, yes, I did cook the rest of the rolls later, and we did eat them. :)
After dinner was over, I said I wasn't cooking for the next week (and I mean it). So Saturday morning there was much munching on leftovers. Miss Sophie wanted in on the action...
Everyone left late morning on Saturday, and thanks to all their help the house and kitchen looked amazing when they were all gone. I don't know how many times we ran the dishwasher, but in the end it was only half full on Saturday with no massive pile in the sink- a miracle!
My only regret is that we didn't take more pictures. :( Other than that, it was a wonderful Thanksgiving!