A Year Without - Day 3

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have so much to be thankful for this year. Babies. Baby on the way. An income for our family, generated by someone who loves us so much, he'd even endure going away to provide for us. Climate control. Warm clothes. A pantry, freezer, and fridge full of food. Friends here to celebrate with us. God is great!

This is the first year I didn't have to set an alarm to get the turkey cooking. Benny's normal 6:30 wake-up was just the right time. (Although, honestly, if it hadn't been, we would have snacked more and eaten later. Because I was tired.) Unfortunately, I was so tired at that hour of the morning, I didn't even notice that I put the turkey in the roasting pan UPSIDE DOWN. But it turned out to be a fortunate mistake. It was THE juciest turkey I've ever made. David even thought I'd done it on purpose.

It was a nice, relaxed day. Just like we like our holidays around here. Cooking in the morning. Eating lunch (but not gorging on it until we were miserable! A big key to actually enjoying the holidays!) and relaxing in the afternoon/evening.

Here is our menu for the day:

Salad (Spinach, Romaine, Roma Tomatoes, Mini Cucumbers)

Wild Rice Blend

Green Beans (flavored nicely with Newman's Own Tuscan Italian Dressing)

Baked Sweet Potatoes (the way God made them, not adulterated with marshmallows or any of the other things I don't understand why people put into them)

Cranberry Relish (WOW! Going to make this stuff every year from now on!)

Turkey (I use The FlyLady's Recipe)

Apple Pie (photo on yesterday's post)

Peach Cobbler

I was rather proud of myself that everything on the table started out fresh, not canned or frozen (well, except for the pie crusts), and was healthy for everyone at the table, despite 4 of the 7 of us having multiple allergies, intolerances, and other food issues.

Some time in the afternoon, I decided to make tomorrow's gumbo today. I remembered that somehow, I always end up making David's gumbo the last day he's in town, and it always tastes so much better the next day, after he's long gone. So this year I was determined to fix that. It made for a long day of cooking, but I think was ultimately worth it. I unfortunately didn't remember that there was NO ROOM IN THE FRIDGE for a giant pot of gumbo, nor were there any/enough containers to hold all seven quarts of it. Robyn wisely pointed out that it was below freezing outside, so we ended up putting the whole pot in the bed of my truck in the garage. Hooray for Colorado weather!

While I was cooking the gumbo, Robyn & David napped again. The kids played a lot of multiplayer Super Mario Brothers on the Wii. Even Katie got in on the game. They seemed to really enjoy it.

Later in the evening, I finally had some free time to show Rachel Dance Dance Revolution, like I'd been wanting to since she arrived. She was really good at it! (It was a lot of fun, but I should not have turned off the jumps before I tried to play. Even though I was wearing a belly band, and holding my belly for the jumps, and even though this baby only weighs 6 oz., I was SOOOOOORE when it was all over.)

Katie and Rachel (and R&D&I) watched like 4 or 5 episodes of Liberty's Kids before I had to get the big kids ready for bed. Poor B had fallen asleep sprawled out on the floor before I even finished the gumbo!

I waited all day to hear from my honey, but there was nothing. I am trying not to think about how sad that made me. Hopefully he is OK, and will Skype me tonight. (And hopefully I will not be so exhaustedly asleep that I will miss it.)