Thanksgiving

So: we planned to be in Nevada for Thanksgiving, but Jared had a work exercise scheduled this week, and couldn't leave the state. Lucky for us my parents were willing to share their dinner LOL. My mom made her now famous rolls. They are death to a low-carb diet [not that I'm dumb enough to try one since I *love* carbs]. I made Jared's special pie- cherry chocolate- and had *way* too much fun with the crust. Also made a lemon pie, and tarts w/pudding filling for the kids. W picked out the flavor, and he and Alyson mixed the pudding up and put it into the tart crusts. And I tried out a new recipe for cranberry sauce. Never been a fan of it, but this recipe changed my mind:

1 pkg fresh cranberries

1 cup sugar

1/4 c plus 2 Tbsp water

1 clementine sliced in half, then sliced paper-thin

mix all ingredients together, then bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer 15 minutes.

This sauce was excellent alone, and also pretty good with the turkey and stuffing my mom made.

Spent time w/my uncle Scott, my Grandpa, and also my fam-John, Melissa, Rachael, Kyle, Alyson, Joy, and my parents. We got there early, and my kids hung out w/Alyson while I cooked with Joy, and fed Myles. Jared got to fiddle w/the upstairs bathroom sink- he's awesome at fixing things, and never complains when he gets drafted. ;) gotta love a man with tools!

Dinner was excellent. Turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy [both from scratch], rolls, stuffing, sweet potatoes, fruit salad, deviled eggs, cranberry sauce, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something... Then there were the pies: pumpkin, cherry-chocolate, & lemon; the tarts; and ice cream or whipped cream to accompany them. Yummy!

Melissa brought Rummikub, and we played that for a bit. I brought 'Cars' and 'Curious George' for us to watch after dinner. And the kids played a challenging game of Scrabble. Alyson had the dictionary out- did you know 'gox' is actually a word? Yup. We hung out 'till late, and the kids all fell asleep in the car on the drive home. Mmmmmm. Love the food, and the family time, and the reminder of how much I have to be thankful for every day.

j