A month of gratitude, part six - a cooked turkey

My first Thanksgiving turkey turned out well, to my disbelief. I don’t know what I expected, certainly for the turkey to take longer to cook than I had budgeted for. Instead, the self-timer popped out ½ an hour early, and a thermometer confirmed it – the bird was fully cooked 1.5 hours before dinnertime. No problem, according to the recipe it needed 30-60 minutes to rest, an extra 30 minutes wouldn’t ruin things. The stuffing was “the best stuffing (my husband) has ever eaten” so I will be making it again. The Real Simple recipe I used added sweet Italian sausage and walnuts, an interesting combo. And the gravy, well that might have been the biggest crisis of the night – it wouldn’t thicken. So, I did what any other distracted cook would do, left it on the stove for an extra 45 minutes with a little extra flour and voila! It thickened, although a little on the lumpy side. Mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, we did in fact have all the fixin’s and it was fun! Fun to cook, but even more fun with the company; our guests experienced their first Thanksgiving and the house was a hive of activity with five boys running/walking/crawling underfoot.

The women, severely outnumbered!

The only thing that could have made the evening an even bigger success? A Lion’s win – they got robbed. Not for me of course, my loyalties lie with da Bears, but for the boys. Mikus even wore his Lions jersey.

Black Friday was spent around the house and yard, with a small excursion to pick up some hardware and deck stain. That might give you a small hint as to what we’ll be working on the next few days…

* Today I am thankful for skype, and the opportunities modern technology gives us to stay connected with family. My father got a tour of our new house this morning, and numerous family members have had the chance to “see” Mikus learning to walk – something that helps me feel less far away from them all. I’m waiting for the “hug app” that will let me give out hugs through my iPad!