Thanksgiving 2012

“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.” –Colossians 3:15

Brandon and I hosted Thanksgiving this year. My sister and her family were not able to make it up this year to join us which was a total bummer. On a positive note, my parents were able to come up and spent 3 full days with us including Thanksgiving day. Thanksgiving dinner consisted of 13 of us total (10 Adults & 3 Kids) which was a great size as far as having enough space without feeling too crowded, however, I LOVE huge family holidays so it would’ve been a blast if the whole family would have been together. O well, next time. :) Any who, since Brandon and I hosted Thanksgiving Dinner this year we decided to take care of the Appetizers, Turkey, 2 Sides, Cranberry Salad and Mini Pumpkin Pies and then everyone brought either another side dish, rolls or a dessert. It was however our 1st time ever cooking a Turkey so I would be totally lying if I said I wasn’t a bit nervous. After multiple Google searches on ‘How to cook the Best Turkey’ we finally found one that sounded best to us. I am beyond happy we used the one we did because it honestly was the BEST Turkey! It was moist, juicy, and extremely flavorful. YUM! I spent a good part of the week preparing decorations for the table and making sure everything looked picture perfect for our Frist Thanksgiving in Colorado. Okay, enough of my gibber gabber and onto the pictures. I am going to divide the pictures into three sections, Thanksgiving Décor/Table Setting,  Making our 1st Turkey, and Thanksgiving Dinner.

Thanksgiving Décor/Table Setting

Since we are on a pretty strict budget with the holidays approaching, I was forced to be a bit crafty with my Décor so I of course turned to Pinterest for ideas and inspiration for Thanksgiving Design on a Dime. 

Here is my Thankful Fireplace Mantle Banner, with my Twine Wrapped Flower Vase and Mini Pumpkins. The Pumpkins were free, the Twine to wrap an existing old vase I had laying around was $0.99, and the Burlap and Felt to make both banners was about $4.

Since I had some leftover burlap & felt from the Thankful Banner, I decided to make one to hang over the dining room window that said Grateful.

Another Twine wrapped Vase for the Table and Some Pinecone Name Tag Holders. Everything here (minus the pinecones) I made from existing things I had around the house, an old Vase, Twine leftover from moving, and scrap paper. The pinecones I actually collected from the park while the kids were playing so even though I didn’t get them from around the house, they were still FREE thanks to Colorado for the abundance of Pine Trees.

And Last we have my Acorn Candle Centerpiece. The vase I already had, the Acorns were free from collecting them from the base of a tree while out on a walk and the candle in the middle was $0.49. All in all I believe I spent around $6 for all my décor. I made myself and my hubby happy at the same time for a mere 6 dollars! Win, win!

 

Making our 1st Turkey

Despite my love for cooking, I have to admit that I am a total wuss when it comes to having to touch raw meat, especially poultry. Why? I don’t really know but I think it has to do with the smell of the poultry not to mention it feels so nasty. Anyway, since I was making my first Turkey (and honestly needed to learn to do it without having my parents always do it) I had to suck it up and move on with my fears. 

So here is my verdict. Cleaning out the bird was not as bad as I originally anticipated, but it was still pretty nasty. The picture on the right is me holding the birds neck & liver. YUCK, so gross, but I DID IT!!!!!

After I cleaned the Turkey I put it back in the fridge until Brandon got home so he could make the brine mixture to let it soak in overnight. I know there is quite a bit of controversy out there weather you should brine or not brine, but we chose to brine so judge if you’d like.

 

The boys mixing the brine.

Once we got the brine made, we chose to brine it in the cooler overnight. We set ice packs all around the bird in the cooler to make sure we kept the turkey at the correct temp. It worked great. The turkey was still very cold and the ice packs were still frozen solid the next morning. We rinsed the brine off and patted it dry.

And then it was time to rub that turkey down. With what? I made a butter mixture that had lots of freshly chopped spices and seasonings in it.

I rubbed that bird down inside and out, under the skin and on top of the skin. Lets just say that at then end I was VERY familiar with my turkey.

Once the turkey was all rubbed down, I chopped up some Oranges, Apples, Lemon and Onion and shoved that inside the turkey along with some fresh spices. Sprinkled a bit of Poultry Seasoning and Pepper on the outside, put it into a baking bag and popped that bad boy in the oven.

After about 3.5 hours we basted the turkey with all the juice it was dripping and made a foil tent to cover it with during the remaining baking time to prevent it from over browning.

And after about 4.5 hours it was done and boy did it look good.

Our Final Product. Not only did it look amazing, it was absolutely delish. Everyone commented on how good it was during dinner. Yay!!!!!

Thanksgiving Dinner

Here was our Menu Breakdown…

Appetizers: Spicy Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip & Crackers, Baked Pumpkin Seeds and Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread.

Main Course: Turkey

Sides: Stuffed Acorn Squash, Lemon & Nut Green Beans, Sweet Potato Casserole (Mother-In-Law made), Mashed Potatoes (Aunt Bev Made), Cornbread Stuffing (Sister-In-Law made) and Rolls (Brought by my mother-in-law).

Dessert: Mini Pumpkin Pies and a homemade French Silk Pie (made by my sister-in-law).

Drinks: Tea, Soda, Amaretto & Cream Soda, Crown & Coke, Wine and Beer.

After Dinner:

My Mom’s were a HUGE help with all the cleanup in the kitchen!

We played a few rounds of Family Feud on the iPad.

We Facetimed our family who couldn’t be with us.

And as always, Pampo was a hot commodity. All the kids wanted his attention, even cousin Bailey wanted in!

So Sweet. The kids LOVED having Nana & Pampo here!!!!!!

Aunt Bev was cracking Bailey up. She is too cute!!

Me & My Mommie’s. Love these ladies to pieces and have no clue what I’d do without them!

The kids had a hysterical Dance Off. Lol!

And we ended the night watching some funny comedy laughing our butts off.

 

It was honestly a picture perfect Thanksgiving. I am SO SO SO beyond words Grateful for the amazing family we have. We are truly blessed! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday spent with the ones you love and you had time to reflect on the many many blessings we all have in our lives. Also, a HUGE Thank You to everyone who came to celebrate Thanksgiving with us and for bringing all the amazing food to share. We love you all very much!

I am really behind on blogging as I have the rest of my parents visit here to blog about but I will have to save that for another day so be sure to check back soon!