Last Thanksgiving Post

I swear.

So I showered you all with some recipes over the weekend, but I failed to mention the most important thing that almost didn't happen on Thanksgiving.

As in Thanksgiving itself.

Yeah...it almost didn't happen. For us, I mean.

Here's the dirt.

Gia and I showed up about an hour earlier than everyone else was due to arrive. Because we had Sammi, our sick cat, with us. She's still hanging in there, by the way. We have no idea how, but she's hanging in there. Anyway, we got there early because we wanted to get her used to the spare bedroom, feed her and make sure she got some rest before the madness started.

Because our Thanksgiving? It's madness. 28 adults and 11 children this year. That's down from last year because my brother and his family couldn't make it. And everyone was due to show up around 2ish. Dinner usually goes down around 5:30PM with appetizers and cocktails and lots of running around by the kids beforehand. The big turkey was in the oven, and everyone was bringing the rest of the side dishes. Mashers (me), stuffing, turnips, green bean casserole, creamed onions, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, etc...

That's when it happened. The oven just...broke. A big old double oven that just wouldn't work. Something to do with the electric control panel. It just stopped working. And we had the big turkey only half-cooked, three more smaller birds (lotta mouths to feed) totally un-cooked, and a houseful of side dishes to heat up. Yikes!

We had some not-so-wonderful alternatives. We do this every year at my sister's house because she's got the biggest place. My brother-in-law actually builds a huge dining room table every year just for the occasion. So that we can all sit at the same place. My mother lived pretty close...so does one of my other sister's. But at either of those homes we would be really tight. And everyone would be eating standing up or something. Like I said, some not-so-wonderful alternatives.

So here's what we did. We rallied.

My brother-in-law lit the barbecue in the back yard and on went the three smaller birds in a large broiling pan. My other brother-in-law grabbed the large bird and off he went to his home to throw it in the oven for the remainder of its cooking time. And I ran out to the store for pans and sterno for the chafing dish stations that they had in the garage. Then someone grabbed another bbq from their house, and between all this; 2 bbqs, a microwave oven, a stove top and three chafing dishes...well, we actually managed to get it all done. And not too much later than when we would normally eat. My brother-in-law even got the blowtorch out for those dishes that needed a little crisping on the top.

And you know what?

BEST THANKSGIVING EVER!!!

Everything tasted delicious and everyone was super-appreciative of the job that was done on all parts to get the job done. It was really a wonderful dinner.

And then we followed it up with some awesome dessert (I tried minced meat pie for the very first time), some more cocktails and then some friends showed up for the best night of karaoke ever!

I'm already looking forward to next year.

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