We had a very low-key Thanksgiving. We had done our shopping the Sunday before, and we pre-cooked most of the sides and all of that the night before so we could just reheat them the next day.
We tried a different technique, courtesy of Zach Dudek, for our turkey this year, and I have to say: after my brother-in-law's deep fried turkey, this was THE BEST TURKEY I'd ever had. It was oven-roasted, but it was SO juicy and tender and just WOW. We brined it overnight, and then stuffed it with butter, practically. Here are the before and after shots:
Dewey was very good, he watched Andrew from afar this year.
We roasted vegetables in the bottom of the turkey pan, so all of the drippings from the turkey absorbed into the veggies. We did celery, carrots, and potatoes. I'm not as big a fan of cooked celery, so that wasn't very good to me. The potatoes were okay...but the CARROTS!!! They were sweet and juicy and soft and just absolutely fantastic. The veggies had soaked overnight in an herb and olive oil bath, so (except the celery) everything was delicious!!
Even though it was just us that day, we busted out our holiday plates we ordered after Christmas time last year. They were SO PRETTY!!!
Our spread was super yummy! We had sweet potato casserole, creamed corn, mashed potatoes, and cornbread stuffing all made from scratch. We did canned cranberry jelly (because I freakishly love that stuff, haha), cubed butternut squash from Costco, and the new Savory Butter flavored King Hawaiian Sweet Rolls. Oh, and the turkey and veggies.
Later that night, our friends Karyn and Gerald stopped by on their way home from Oklahoma to see us for a bit. They brought some yummy baked goods, and we visited for a bit before they had to get back on the road.
The next day, Andrew and I had to work. But afterwards, we went over to my mom's house for some leftovers and dessert. We got to see Andrea, but not the rest of her family (all of her kiddos were sick, sadly), and we got to meet Robert's girlfriend, Jenny. We had a great time reliving funny/embarrassing moments of Robert's childhood for her, and it was just a great evening to get to spend together. I didn't take any pictures, unfortunately.
Saturday morning we put up our few Christmas decorations. We didn't end up putting the ornaments on the tree, but it's been fine just to have the lit tree. Dewey was super excited about all of the boxes and new stuff.
We had some light issues with the tree that we never got around to fully resolving, but the tree still looked good.
Uncle Scott and Aunt Donna came over that day for some leftovers and pie. It was so great to get to visit with them!! They took some pictures of us in an attempt to get a Christmas card picture. One of the ones they took is getting put in our "Christmas 2011" frame, but we ended up doing some more pictures that night after they left, of Dewey separate from us, for the actual Christmas card.
We had a truly wonderful Thanksgiving this year, we are so blessed.
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