Thanksgiving Feast

After two full 8 hour days of cleaning and preparation for guests including 5 of 7 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, the living room, both our offices, the basement and both kitchens, we had a great crowd and tons of food for our Thanksgiving Feast. Unfortunately the pictures I took were a total afterthought - didn't have any good ones to post.

Mom & A.Vee came up from the beach, and Gary’s sister Tina and one of her sons, Bryce, drove down from Ohio and stayed with us too. Everyone converged on the house Wednesday afternoon. Mom and I prepped food well into the night.

On Thursday I roasted a 21lb. turkey using an old Martha Stewart recipe with apple cider and all kinds of fresh herbs effortlessly chopped in my trusty food processor (and made an outstanding gravy, the likes of which I‘ve never had so much success with!). I rented tables, chairs and linens so I wouldn’t have to deal with piece-mealing it all together, and set the table for 24 guests. I guess I’m getting pretty good at this - because everything was perfectly timed for 4:00 arrivals. Such a great feeling!

We had Gary’s girls, his Mom Joyce and her sister-in-law Aunt Libb, cousin Donnie & Holly and their beautiful little 10-month old Camryn, cousin Reba and her husband Doug, their daughters Elizabeth and Allison, Gary’s sis Tina and her sons Bryce and Philip, our friend and back-steps builder Martin and his wife Lori and their 2 little boys Jacob and Noah, and of course Mom & A.Vee and me. Exhausted by evening’s end, with a good crew we got the whole thing cleaned up by midnight! I slept til nearly noon on Friday and didn’t get out of my Pjs all day - LOVE that!