Thanksgiving is over! Now two of the four main holidays of the year (for us) are done- Halloween, Thanksgiving…. just Christmas and New Years are left now. New Years is not technically a big deal in our family, but the whole “fresh year” thing still brings some excitement and is a fun time. I always get so excited for the fall/winter holidays, but they always seem to kind of zoom right by.
I’m feeling a little talked out right now after a full and busy week with lots of family and chatter and good times. 🙂
Going to try to keep the words pretty brief in this post!
Favorite picture:
Thursday morning: apple pie making with the boys
….while watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (always)
Pie ready to go in the oven:
Lots of other prep followed. My Dad and I did basically all of the cooking:
He made the turkey and several of the main sides:
While we worked in the kitchen, my mom set the table and made things pretty:
Once things seemed in pretty good shape, I squeezed in a 20 minute BB workout and a 20 minute walk, which felt really great:
After a shower, it was time to attempt to get everything hot at the same time:
Okay, a few more words needed here. Are we the only ones who find it damn near impossible to get everything HOT and ON THE TABLE at the same time, without feeling like we just ran through a Tough Mudder obstacle course?! Every time, it never fails- the final push ends up feeling very chaotic. Trying to get all the various dishes hot and served while hungry people are waiting, working out the timing of the hot rolls and keeping the gravy warm and the mashed potatoes from going cold….. oof. Always seems like a little bit of a cluster! I mean, everything tasted great, and it always ends up working out. But there has to be an easier way?!
I suppose offering fewer dishes could probably help immensely (or having a 4x larger kitchen, with 3 ovens and 5 microwaves), but we are fans of all the “variety” that comes with our traditional Thanksgiving. What can I say. Old habits die hard.
We squeezed in a few more family pictures while I pretended that I wasn’t sweating from just having been bent over the hot open oven door shuttling things in and out for the last 35 minutes:
And then finally, WAY later than planned (because we didn’t put the turkey in soon enough, due to a combination of the pie making starting too late, and the fact that we ended up Skyping with my sister and family in Ireland- oh well! Good reasons for a delay), DINNER WAS SERVED!
*Not shown- my sister-in-law, her husband, two kids and my brother-in-law, plus my parents were all at the table.
After a breather, we moved on to dessert(s):
Then we moved on to…. clean up. Grateful to my sister-in-law who stepped in and helped with a LOT of dishes!!!
Side note- Thanksgiving was wayyyyyy easier when I was a child. Show up at Grandma’s, go play with cousins, eventually be called to the table, stuff face with delicious food, then run off to continue playing with cousins. Grocery shopping? Food prep? Cooking? Cleaning? Dishes? Was not a part of my day back then. hahaha!
I hope everyone who celebrated Thanksgiving had a wonderful day. 🙂
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for another happy, healthy holiday for our family.
GRATEFUL KAE 
Off topic but I love your plates! So pretty.
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Thanks!! I like them a lot too! 😊
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It looks like everyone had a lovely day! Yay!
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look the feast, I wish I was invited!!! I am sure all the prep was worth it when everyone started to dig in! 🙂
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Ha! Yes, all these celebrations seemed so much easier and more fun when I was a kid…and had NO responsibility other than to show up, play, eat, and then go play some more.
You are not crazy – it is impossible to get everything ready to serve at the same time while keeping the necessary hot things hot (or cold things cold). I hear you on that. Last year I made a lot fewer things for Christmas dinner and it helped? I cut it down to only TWO veggies, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pickles and turkey…and I think I might do the same this year? Even with that, ever pot and pan were in use, the kitchen was a disaster, I was sweating like a banshee…The food tasted good though – haha.
Despite the last-minute chaos, wow the food looks SO good.
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Ok, I’m glad it’s a universal sentiment!!
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Great photos! And I love your dishes so much. They are so pretty. I am with you on getting everything to the table hot — it is such a feat of Herculean juggling, I wind up panting and sweaty. This year it would have been fine except that then we had to carve the turkey and everything kind of cooled off while that was happening. Sigh. Next year I will wait until the turkey is carved.
Sounds like you had a wonderful Thanksgiving though! What a feast!
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It makes me feel better to know we are not alone in this!! haha. In the movies it always looks so easy. Have you ever noticed how they always seem to put the entire turkey in the middle of the table in the holiday dinner scenes?? I mean, what, are they not going to CARVE the turkey??
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Wow! That’s a lot of food – I feel overwhelmed just thinking about getting all those dishes on the table! Looks like it was a lovely day though!
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It is tricky if you don’t have a massive kitchen and a double oven. My family really leans on crockpots on big holidays like this – things are either cooked in there or put in there to keep the food warm to free up oven space. But my mom and brother both have double ovens and that really helps. I do not so it would be tricky for me to host my huge family!! So I just have to show up with a couple of side dishes, both of which are served cold, so I get by pretty easily!
It sounds like a wonderful day, though!
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I love that you were hosting family. It looks like a wonderful holiday and so much yummy food. This is a great family photo of the four of you 🙂
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