My 1st Thanksgiving

Kevin injecting his bird with flavoring-not pictured is my bird sitting in a 5 gallon bucket at Kevin's feet waiting to be drowned in the yummy brine I prepared

Conor with our turkey center piece he made

Our small gathering-Ryan, Conor, Grandpa, Kevin, Grandma, Lincoln and Josie

The title is a bit deceiving, what it should say is my 1st Thanksgiving meal that I hosted, which means I cooked a turkey and most of the fixins. We volunteered to host all of Kevin's family this year minus one sister and we were really excited about getting every one together. Unfortunately, as the big day got closer, siblings started dropping out for various reasons. In the end, our big family gathering ended up being a very small group, but no problem-more food for the rest of us. We had 2, 10 lb turkeys for 5 adults and 2 children. This equals a lot of left overs. Kevin and I had a little contest, he seasoned and cooked one and I seasoned and cooked one. The taste tests were pretty inconclusive, no matter what you do to a turkey it pretty much always tastes the same...a little bland. Thank goodness for cranberry sauce. We made some mashed potatoes that were to die for-make ahead and use your Bosch for perfection, I thought they were the best part. This year I learned how to make a pumpkin roll and it turned out yum yum. All said and done, I was very pleased with the results and I can proudly say I have cooked a turkey and I am completely confident I can do it again.

Thanks to Ryan who came all the way from Washington DC to try my first attempt at cooking a turkey. Ironically he had the farthest to travel and was the only sibling to make it.

On to Christmas-We are getting dumped on right no, so that makes Christmas prep extra fun. We are blessing Lincoln next week, so if your December isn't crazy enough all ready, come on out and join us.