Turkey Do

I would like to say that my absence was due to Thanksgiving festivities but that's not entirely true. Mostly true, but not entirely. I did, however, have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Actually one of the best in a very, very long time.

First and foremost - no traveling to my in-laws! Instead,  my husband extended an invitation to his family to come to our house. No Thanksgiving night in a hotel! No McDonalds on Thanksgiving! We get to watch the Macy's Day parade! This is gonna be great!  Flash to the thought of the 9 of them throwing their used toilet paper in my trash can, instead of flushing it down the toilet...no, it's still gonna be great!

And it got even better. Because they didn't come! I know that sounds so hateful. It's horrible, I know. Completely horrible. And yet, it made me so happy.

So I got to host Thanksgiving for my SIL (the newly reconnected one), her family and an old friend. Now, this is a major feat for someone that cooks like...never. I mean, yeah, I make dinner but I don't cook. If it comes from a box or a sack - I'm good. Most the time. But to really cook? Yeah, I don't do that. I don't enjoy cooking. Mainly because I'm not good at it.  I know I'm suppose to feel inadequate or something because that's not a skill I have...but I'm not heartbroken over it. So I'm not a good cook? There are lots of other things I'm good at. Not exactly sure what those other things are...but I know there's something.

I have been in the kitchen enough to know that a large part of it is timing. So, I made a list (you know how I love a good list) and timed everything out. Yes, I made a timeline for my dishes. And I do have to say that it worked perfectly - everything was done and still hot. It was perfect.

Food prep - I got this!

And no major disasters either. Actually no disasters of any kind. Not that I made anything hard - although I did make dressing from scratch. Like I boiled a chicken for the broth kind of scratch. But even that wasn't hard - just time consuming. So I would call my first Thanksgiving a success.

As an added bonus, I actually got to have Thanksgiving with my family too. We split our holidays so I usually don't get to spend it with them but this year they decided to do it on the weekend so it worked out. Super low-key because I didn't host - just had to show up with asparagus casserole and a smile. And eat myself to death. I don't know why, but my family is always worried about running out of food. Really? We're all like 20 pounds overweight, I think we'll survive without a piece of pie. Of course, I totally ate one.

It was that sugar rush that helped me establish myself as Queen of Pit - I smoked everybody! If you don't know, that's a really fun game. It's based on the stock market, which doesn't sound fun at all. You have got to try this game - it's the coolest thing ever! You just have to try to collect a full set of commodities. You know, like wheat, barley, oats, corn...Yeeeah, doesn't sound real exciting. But it is! It's my party must have. So. Much. Fun.

So super great Thanksgiving.  Although I will say that I am up to here with Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and anything else Thanksgivingish. You can only eat the same meal so many times in a row. And I think 5 days may have been pushing it.

And I got my Christmas decorations up!  What an experience that was! But that's a story for another day. A story involving broken bulbs, bruises and a whole lot of brawn.  Let's juts say my Christmas spirit will not be defeated!  So hello holidays!