The Thanksgiving Blog- Before December hits!

Before Dec 1st hits, I thought I better upload the photographic evidence of Thanksgiving.

I spent the morning wrapped up in jammies, bathrobe, slippers, socks, undershirt and mittens...it was dang cold!!

As is my personal tradition, I cracked open a DP at 9am and watched the Thanksgiving day parade:

Made some HOMEMADE Butterscotch Pies (hey, I had to MIX all these ingredients!):
Ta Da!
and then I watched some more of the parade:

As the afternoon dawned and some rays of sunshine appeared, I donned my gloves, packed up the car with stuffing, crafts, olives, cranberry sauce and awesome butterscotch pies, picked up a niece living nearby and headed over to my BRAVE brother and sister in law's house. The three mile drive was GRUELING. The traffic, I swear- three stoplights!!

These brave souls were hosting about 30 people...10 of which were kids. That is not a good control ratio, FYI! Before I was attacked by small fry demanding crafts and personal attention, I managed to get in one photo of the lovely table:

Our brave hostess and her mother:

and some random hams....I mean nephews...who showed up:

The youngest of the brood, affectionately known as "The Escape Artist" is on her feet now - god help us!

and yet another kid...I swear they were all over the place! It was like a horror movie!

Being the kind hearted auntie I try to be, I brought over some crafts to keep them occupied while dinner was being prepared. Crafts included:

* Color your own drinking mug

* Make a beaded snowflake

(me saying...stop whining, there is one for everyone!)

* Make a beaded wreath

* color a damn picture

(me saying...shut up already, I 'm getting the next one! Get off me!)

* Color your own wooden ornament

(me telling one to stop crying, I didn't mean to kick you when I stood up to catch The Escape Artist before she got to the stairs!)

and I think that was it...whew! The average craft completion time was 3.5 minutes per craft...these kids need to learn to slow the hell down!

Here are the kiddos, enjoying the crafts, somewhat:

Meanwhile, the adults were awaiting the Thanksgiving feast:
While more crafts were being completed in less than 3.5 minutes per craft:

Finally! The 30 pound (yes, THIRTY POUNDS) turkey was ready for it's debut:
and the people flocked to the table - side one:
side two:
Of course, my stove top stuffing (homemade dang you!!) was given high ratings by some:
Others were more interested in the traditional "olive fingers":

Other than my AWESOME BUTTERSCOTCH PIES, there was some kind of pumpkin, pumpkin cheesecake, lemon meringue, apple pie and I think that was it:

Pie Grades:

Awesome Butterscotch Pie - A+

Other Pies - uh, yeah, I didn't get a chance to try them....C+, B+? I heard the pumpkin cheesecake was good!

The kids look forward to attacking their personal butterscotch pies each year...each in their own special way:

After dessert, things kinda spiraled downhill a bit:

But I managed to get a few good shots (although my niece took the one of me with some of "the blondes"):


I finally managed my escape.....excuse me, I mean I finally headed home around 7pm. Good food, Good fun, and MOSTLY good kids....Happy Thanksgiving all!