Thanksgiving Pt. 1...New Tradition?

I know I mentioned that Jake's birthday celebration didn't go off as planned...we had to postpone, as he was in a lot of pain, and it was a mystery. Well, by Wednesday, he was doubled over with abdominal pain. After consulting Web MD and learning that the symptoms pointed to appendicitis, Cliff took Jake on a six-hour, emergency room adventure. Appendicitis was ruled out. He had no other symptoms (fever, etc.) and insisted he had been using the bathroom normally. Well, the X-ray proved otherwise. Evidently he was about to explode. Good times. So, they sent him home about 1 AM with some medicine to wait it out. Within 24 hours, he was fine. Phew!

Not only had he missed his birthday, but the next day was Thanksgiving. We were in no shape to be putting on a feast. Wednesday night, as I was driving kids back and forth from classes, church interviews, service projects, etc...trading out vehicles with Cliff at the ER to fill up his gas tank and leave a car for Troy at the college so he could drive himself home, etc...I was despairing over the situation. We had invited the Jones kids, since they had had their Thanksgiving early so the parents could take a trip to the Tokyo temple over the holiday. I finally came to the conclusion that we needed to put it off by a day. We have learned over the years that holidays are whenever you can be together to celebrate them, so why not?

When I posted on Facebook that Jake was going to be fine, and that we were going to be holding our celebration a day late, my friend Tracy wrote that it's how her family does it every year! She said she spends Thursday cooking all day while her husband is home to keep the kids occupied, and then on Friday, they feast and relax. Genius! I am considering adopting this tradition for my own.

So, with the pressure off, I was able to do all the prep work on Thursday, and a lot of the cooking, so that on Friday morning, I just had to cook the turkey, assemble the stuffing in the crock pot, bake the rolls, brown the sweet potatoes, etc. It was great. Here's how we spent our Thanksgiving days:



Giving the Turkey a butter massage...



Woohoo! High-five!



Gorgeous pumpkin pies. While I don't boil my own pumpkin (I like the thicker consistency of canned pumpkin better) I did make the pie crust. It was flaky and fantastic, if I do say so myself. And the recipe? My grandma's secret...you just use the Libby's recipe on the can, but add 1 Tbsp of frozen orange juice concentrate. Yum!



Once again, this year I made Mr. Bennett's $30 stuffing (my Aunt Sue's recipe), but I made my own cornbread cubes using the Pioneer Woman's recipe. (Thanks for sharing the idea, Aviva. Man, I love Facebook. I got so many Thanksgiving tips this year.) It was fantastically satisfying. I made these a day ahead to let them dry out overnight (ended up being 2 nights).



They held their shape SO much better than the bagged stuff that turns to paste.



I also bought a loaf of (Japanese) French bread to cube and dry.



This turned out way mo' bettah than the bag or box, too.



And since we were just chillaxin', I had a cute assistant to help me. He rocked.



Turkey, schmurkey! Bring on the stuffing!



Loading all the ingredients into the crockpot...bread cubes, celery, onion...



Sausage...



Wild Rice...



Another cute assistant. Man, I'm lucky.



Fresh mushrooms (a big splurge in these parts)...



Toasted pine nuts. Awesome!



After a couple of hours of roasting the bird upside down (thanks for the tip, Dad)...



I turned him right side up to get nice and brown all over...and he's got these lines all over him. Kind of like when I fall asleep on the couch and end up with my handprint on my face.



I love my trusty silicone mitts. Try turning over a turkey with cloth ones.



Then rubbed him down with olive oil...



And sprinkled him with more poultry seasoning. He also has fresh rosemary inside. Mmm.

In part two, I'll post the rest of the menu, and pics of our feast. It's gonna be GOOD!