Turkey Day

Well the annual food fest has come and soon will be gone. Last night I did a pan of chocolate chocolate chip brownies with chocolate frosting topped with sprinkles. This morning hubby did his deadly sweet potatoes. He likes to drain the juice from the can of sweet potatoes into a pan and add brown sugar and cornstarch and boil down till it is a thick syrup. Then he pours it back into the baking dish with the rest of the potatoes before topping it with the mini marshmallows. Strangely, I'm not a big fan of the candied version of sweet potatoes preferring a plain baked one topped with a little butter. I tossed together my green bean casserole and nuked it for 10 min while the potatoes were baking before transferring to the oven for the final few minutes to brown the onions on top. Even though I use the canned version that is so popular I still like to have them "extra crispy". Food ready and kids dressed we headed out the door and over to the big town of Lesterville, SD (population-I'm sure our family gathering made up at least half of it). For many years my mother in law's side of the family has rented out the community hall and had one heck of a thanksgiving feast. Beings the loving husband came from a good Catholic family, you can imagine the number of relatives he has. In past years there have been over 100 people showing up to celebrate but this year attendance was down so there was only 85 of us. I really don't know who does the turkeys but we have yet to run out. There is also the usual side dishes of dressing and mashed potatoes and at least one or two green bean casseroles. I always look forward to the big pot of sauerkraut they have out. It goes great on the potatoes, who needs the gravy. Jim prefers the dumplings but I'm not as fond of them. Did I mention that this side is of German heritage? If you aren't full after all that food then there is the dessert table with the usual pumpkin pies and other baked goods. Jim's grandma always brings the kolachies (Czech pastry) and they never last too long. Before we eat, everyone gathers around in a big circle and counts off--that's how we know the attendance. After that is finished then one of the aunts sings the "Our Father" She sings the verse and we sing it back to her. Then blessings are mentioned concerning those who were not able to be here and those who are watching from Heaven. We then say the prayer and line up to eat. Over the years we have learned which side of the room is the best place to stand since those at the top end of the circle are closest to the food. After stuffing ourselves then it is time for socializing. In years past hubby and I have joined in on the Trivial Pursuit game but with kids running around it is a little hard to do so. Matthew and Carolyn had a blast. There are several kids in the same age range so lots of running around. We also brought balls to play with and art supplies and card games so there was no shortage of things to occupy their time. Andrew of course played the cute card and spent his time tagging along and finding a spare lap to sit on. Our local paper puts out a special advertisement edition so we brought that down and took it in for people to look at and to get gift ideas. All good things must come to an end so late in the afternoon we packed everything up and headed back to Brandon. The kids were pretty tied and Matthew slept the whole way back. All in all it was a pretty good day. Now I have to go and finish my gift list and shopping strategy. Black Friday is soon here and I like to start early. The trick to shopping on that day is to know where you are going and what you are going to buy before even leaving your house that morning. I also try to avoid the high traffic stores first thing and go to those places where the shopping is not so frantic. Yes, I'm one of the crazy ones but I think it is a ton of fun. Happy Thanksgiving to you all and of course I'm thankful to everyone who takes time out of their busy day to read my blog.