Bits and pieces of our Thanksgiving Day

Our plan was to get up and feed the cows at 5:30am, stoke up to wood cook stove and put ole' turkey in around 6am. The turkey weighed approximately 22 lbs, so we calculated that, we'd be ready to eat around 2pm. I made the whole wheat rolls the day before, when I made our weekly bread and yesterday I made the jello salad, apple blueberry crisp and the stuffing. This left only the relish tray, turkey, potatoes and gravy to really get ready today. My parents brought relish tray items and a sweet potato hot dish.

This was a stash of dried sourdough bread slices from the freezer reserved for stuffing. My parents, Cortney and myself are the only ones who eat stuffing, so a small pan is plenty.

The stuffing is not from a recipe but rather, just a bit of mixing  and playing. So every year the stuffing is something different. This stuffing was sourdough bread, chopped walnuts, celery, onion, garlic and finally I decided to throw in some dried cranberries, salt, pepper, chopped sage and rosemary from our herb garden. Added 1/4 c. butter and turkey broth until slightly moist. The smell of the herbs, garlic and onions was divine. I don't stuff this into the bird, because it is just a small batch, so instead place it in a baking dish.

I forgot to get a picture of the turkey before we cut it up, but you still get the idea and boy was it tender and juicy. My Dad likes the legs so he got the one missing in this photo.

This was the overflow table, as there was so much food it wouldn't all fit onto our smaller dropleaf  table. Everything but the, celery, sweet potatoes, green and black olives and the blueberries in the dessert came from right here on the farm.
                     
A table full and everyone enjoyed our Thanksgiving Day feast. It was just my Dad, Mom, Cortney, myself and Mike. After everyone ate, the men meandered out to the living room, where they watched the Dallas and New Orleans football game(Mike and Cortney are Cowboy fans) Mom, Cortney and I cleared the table and collected up the leftovers.

The view from my side of the table, see how full my plate is and let me tell you it was all delicious!

Our weather was still quite cold, it was the windchill that made it so. Tomorrow is supposed to be well into the high 20'sF and Saturday is forecasted to be 34F, it's going to seem like a heatwave, YEAH!!!!!

I like to make pies, but because of lack of time I opted to make Apple Blueberry Crisp, topped with whipped cream. I was actually to full (I still am*sigh*) so passed on dessert, but everyone else said it was good. It was made with apples that Cortney and I canned the year before and I added walnuts to the crumble topping to dress it up a bit. It sure smelled good while it was baking last night. :o)

The table all cleared and my favorite candle lantern burning . Praying your Thanksgiving was blessed. We were Thankful not to have to travel, many of the roads in and around Montana were closed due to poor visibility, blowing snow and black ice.

All of our animals got their Thanksgiving Day goodies and all gave it two paws, hooves or feet up!*wink*

Now we're simply enjoying the remainder of our evening, watching a movie, enjoying hot tea( me), hot cocoa( Cortney) and a fresh hot cup of coffee( Mike). Our home is toasty and warm and our stomachs full . I also love that now we'll have leftovers for the weekend, so I don't have to cook :o)