You are thinking, you know what Thanksgiving dinner is nothing new, The Pilgrims and Indians celebrated it hundreds of years ago. I know that, I do, really. But when I was growing up we almost never had Thanksgiving at my house and even if we did we didn't prep all the food ourselves, other family members would bring dishes to contribute. I grew up with all my family living about 30 minutes away from me, my Grandparents (on both sides), aunts, uncles and cousins. So every year I eat a lot of Thanksgiving dinners. We would have one at my moms side and one at my dad's side. When I was in my 1st year of college I also started to attend a dinner at my boyfriends families as well. Then I got married (to previously mentioned boyfriend), and not only attended the two dinners at my grandparents, and my in laws but my parents also started to have one with just my sister, me and my husband (and our kids once they came along). So "in my prime" I was eating about 4 FULL Thanksgiving dinners every year.
If at this point you are tired of my "life story" then you can skip to the point of this blog that will be marked with *** down towards the bottom.
Then something wonderful happened 2 years ago in 2009 my husband had to travel for work the first week in November for 2 weeks. It promised to be a hard, grueling and torturous assignment so for moral support I accompanied him. We sent our, then 2 1/2 year old, daughter to her grandparents. Then we packed up our bags and got on the plane and flew to Hawaii (I told you torturous). I spent my days lounging on the beach of Waikiki, strolling the open air markets, visiting the pool, taking naps, and seeing the Polynesian Center, while my husband worked. At night we went out for walks on the beach, nice diners, drives up the coast and swimming in the ocean.
When we got back we were exhausted. I do mean that literally. In once sense we were recharged in another we were so tired of travelling. So we told out families (to their disappointment) "We are not coming to Thanksgiving this year!" To that we were kinda given the "well can we come down to see the grandchild" And we said "No!"
That is how it all began.
So now we are getting ready for our 3rd Thanksgiving "On our own." Last year both of our families came down and we had more people here then we had beds for and more people here then we had chairs for at dinner. To top it all off I was 8 month pregnant with our 2nd daughter.
Our 1st year was just us, but we didn't have lots of time to prepare for it, plan menu items and prep food. So it was a "small" (the turkey was a 20lb+ number) meal with few items on the menu but plenty of food.
Our 2nd year we got something from everyone and it was a large meal and very hectic (did I mention I was 8 month pregnant?).
*** This year we are planning ahead. We are not having any family in from out of town and haven't invited any "locals" over (yet). And that brings me to the point of this blog.
I am going to be giving recipes for our menu items here and helping you (who are not veteran Thanksgiving meal makers) prepare for the big day.
Today is step 1. If you choose to get a fresh turkey then NOW is the time you need to be ordering it. Call a local butcher or such and get that baby ordered. Then you just pick it up when you are ready (for us that will be Wednesday before Thanksgiving).
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