Thanksgiving Feast

Wayne, Charlotte and I spent Thanksgiving with my family this year at my Dad and Leigh’s house. And what a FULL house it was, I think we ended up with thirteen adults, three half pints, one cat and one dog! (Marg, Bill, Dad, Leigh, Mom, Sancha, Erik, Wayne, Tyler, Cameron, Kate, Pat, Jake, Brennan and ME) With so many people I took a lot of pictures so enjoy the slideshow!

Everyone chipped in with the food, although Dad and Leigh really carried most of the burden – can you imagine two full turkeys, one large turkey breast, mash potatoes, green beans, cheesy broccoli, squash casserole, bread stuffing, cornbread dressing, sausage dressing, cranberry relish, cranberry jelly, dinner rolls, relish plate, pear cake, key lime pies, cranberry bunt cake and of course two kinds of gravy. I THINK that’s everything, all made from scratch. That’s the kind of massive Thanksgiving you have to put together if you want to feed so many hungry adults AND have leftovers! This year I cooked an 11 pound turkey and my mother’s stuffing – my first attempt at both (no pressure) and although they needed a little more time in the oven – and made us a little late to the gathering – I think they turned out pretty well! It’s a long standing joke in my family that “Erin brings the corn” so I really wanted to prove that I could do more than open a can! Anyway it was great to have so many of us together this year – with all six of us kids spread out all over the state and east coast – who knows how often that will be the case. Although my brother Cameron has been in town for almost a week (we have a few more days with him) Tyler was only able to get away from work for two days and so we needed to make the most of his visit. He was so sweet with Charlotte and I was able to get quite a few good pictures of them together. It’s been eight months since his last visit and I remember how small she was in his arms then – she has changed so much since then. I had a lot of fun “coaching” Tyler on how to feed Charlotte. Not that he was doing a bad job BUT you have to move REAL quick to get her fed before she rips off her bib! Tyler also brought a really delicious red wine from his restaurant – need to ask him the name again – I am not normally a huge fan of red wine so this was a real treat to add to our meal.

It’s such a whirlwind to have everyone together, someone is always cleaning up something, someone pouring wine and getting drinks, other people are assigned to finding, feeding or entertaining half pints, someone is playing with Fin (the dog), people watching the games, or enjoying each other on the deck. Although these gatherings are so fun, at the end I wish we had more time with everyone. I really cherish the opportunity to be with family and just share in the spirit of the season.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Ps – This is a funny video of Leigh (my step mom) with my nephew Brennan (14 months old). I got just the tail end of their game but Leigh would shake her head and then Brennan would shake his head they went back and forth for awhile – too cute! We were all laughing at his mimic skills.