Our Thanksgiving

I hope you had a special Thanksgiving day and weekend. We sure did!! It was the first time in 12 years that our immediate family was together on Thanksgiving, so that made it very special. We had twenty people for our dinner and it took four tables to seat everyone. We all had a great time. I was happy with all of the recipes that I chose because the food turned out great! I knew that I had a very big menu planned, and we kept the three full-size ovens busy for hours. I couldn't have done it without them. It was worth the extra effort and our time spent with family was very special. 

Our Thanksgiving menu included:

Roast Turkey

Sweet Onion, Apple, Bacon and Dried Cherry Cornbread Dressing

Creamy Oven-Baked Mashed Potatoes

Make-Ahead Turkey Gravy

Cranberry Relish

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

Homemade Applesauce

Sweet Potatoes with Toasted Marshmallows

Sweet Potato Puree with Pecan Streusel

Green Beans and Mushroom Casserole

Shredded Brussell Sprouts with Bacon and Hazelnuts

Black Cherry Tapioca Jello

Peach Dream Jello

Great Grandma Hansen's Homemade Rolls

Homemade Butter

Strawberry Freezer Jam

Desserts

Pam's Lemon Meringue Pie

Impossible Pumpkin Pies

Pecan Pie

Mini Caramel Apple Pies

Misty's Lemon Bars
Chewy Oatmeal Cut-out Cookies

I have a few pictures to share from the big day. I was a little busy so I relied on others to take pictures for me. Unfortunately, I am missing a couple photos of some of the food items, but most of them are here.

The breakfast room table

The dining room table

A smaller table

The kids table

Ivan's table

Tender and Moist Roast Turkey

 Sweet Onion, Apple, Bacon and Dried Cherry Cornbread Dressing

Creamy Oven-Baked Mashed Potatoes

Make-Ahead Turkey Gravy

Green Bean and Mushroom Casserole

Sweet Potato Puree with Pecan Streusel

Candied Sweet Potatoes with Toasted Marshmallows

Apricot Dream Jello

Shredded Brussell Sprouts with Bacon and Hazelnuts

Great Grandma Hansen's Homemade Rolls.

Dessert table

 

All the food was ready to be served at the same time which was great. The most time-consuming part of the pre-meal time was getting the food dished up into serving bowls for three separate tables. Because of so many different dishes, it would have worked out better logistically if the food had been set up buffet style. Everyone could have filled their plates and enjoyed everything together. If I had a do-over, I would change that aspect of the meal.

I don't know about you, but when I cook a large meal like this, by the time I sit down to eat, all I want is a bite here and there to taste how new recipes turned out. Hunger pangs didn't hit until the next morning and I was ready for breakfast.

I have a few recipes that I will be sharing later this week from our Thanksgiving dinner. It is really handy having this blog as a place to keep track of special meals like this. It will make Thanksgiving planning easier next year.

After dinner, those of us that weren't cleaning up in the kitchen gathered in the living room area around the piano and enjoyed some music. A huge thank you to those that did the clean up!! We enjoyed lots of singing and music being played between the sax, flute, tuba and miscellaneous noise makers for the smaller kids. That is how we ended most every holiday meal when I was growing up and I'm very happy that the tradition that is being passed on to our grandkids.

My mom-in-law was able to join us for Thanksgiving and spent two nights with us as well. We had a big weekend slumber party, with lots of Probe, Uno and Chicken Feet being played. We all had a great weekend. I can't wait until Christmas!