Thanksgiving Plans

It's the first Thanksgiving I've had without my parents being close-by. Not that it's my first Thanksgiving without them. Before Sam and I were married, my parents didn't want Sam around for holidays, so I just called them to wish them a happy holiday and had Thanksgiving dinner at our place with Nimalee. Even so, I think my relatives are making a big deal about my parents having moved away, like they feel sorry for us. Sure, it's unfortunate that they can't be here to celebrate with us, or we can't be there to celebrate with them, but we're adults and do plenty fine on our own for the holidays. We have been for years now. My aunt on my mother's side invited us to their place for this Thanksgiving, and I can't really remember the last time we celebrated a holiday solely at their place, so this should be nice. My cousin Ciara is really excited about making me, Sam, and my brothers a special turkey dinner (5 courses, she says!). I'm looking forward to it.

That's not to say that I'm not going to be doing any cooking this week. I think I've gotten used to cooking for Thanksgiving, and Sam's gotten used to eating my cooking for Thanksgiving. :) So, in the interest of maintaining tradition, I'll be extending the holiday and making a turkey dinner for Friday instead of Thursday. Here's what's planned for the menu:

• Roast Turkey, brined
• Stuffing, my way!
• Sweet Potato Casserole
• Roasted Vegetables
• Mashed Potatoes
• Apple Pie

That's certainly a lot of food for two people. I'll try to maintain portion control on the veggies and potatoes. Surprisingly, the turkey and stuffing never last the whole following week. The sweet potato casserole too. Sam loves him some sweet potato casserole.

For the past couple years, Nimalee has been coming over for Thanksgiving. I've been so busy with work and my various self-imposed activities, that I kept forgetting to call her to see if she wanted to come for Thanksgiving or Day After Thanksgiving. (Sorry Nimalee!) I really hope she can come over for one of those days. I don't get to see her often. Besides, she can help take the pressure off our stomachs, what with all the food we'll apparently be stuffing ourselves with.

I did a trial run of my apple pie tonight. I think it came out pretty good for my first pie from scratch. More about it later, but it smells terrific. Unfortunately, it needs to cool overnight... bummer! Though, if I wake up early enough, apple pie for breakfast does sound mighty yummy.