Thanksgiving 2009

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday Nov. 21. Since it isn't a holiday here, Brian doesn't have the day off of work. I decided to host--what was I thinking?--and it turned out to be an awesome day! Of course, we missed family most but when we can't have family we still celebrate with the next best thing! Great friends!
This is a picture of the table just before we sat down. I made the turkey--yes, me!--and the stuffing (from scratch with fresh herbs) and the rolls and the gravy and the mashed potatoes and some sweet potatoes too! My friend Harmony made cranberry sause, green beans, a most amazing roquefort, pear and pine nut salad which I made for my family on Christmas and some awesome desserts.A close up of the turkey. It was my first time. I brined it and everything. It turned out quite awesome. The only unawesome thing about it was the price. I paid $83 (yes, dollars) for it. And it was only about 10 pounds. Still worth it!Here is my awesome stuffing. I bought 3 different kinds of bread about 4 days in advance and let them dry out before cubing and toasting them. It was the most yummy stuffing I have ever tasted! (I'm not much of a stuffing person and I was really eating this stuff).
A few of us chilling and snacking before dinner. In addition to having our super cool friends, the Roundys, over for dinner, we also had two missionaries and an investigator (who finally got baptized after 7 months of investigation)!The elders. Not sure why this picture is so small but I'm not worried enough to figure it out.Johnny-Lu.
Everyone at the table (except me). Everyone at the table (except Harmony).
The kids enjoyed a dessert of homemade cupcakes. They mostly enjoyed my chocolate frosting. It is super yummy! They got to frost the cupcakes themselves and put sprinkles on.
Can you tell which part of the cupcake James likes best? He could probably do without the cupcake and not even notice it was missing.
These are the desserts that the adults enjoyed. Classic pumpkin pie and a to-die-for pumpkin cheesecake! Harmony makes the best desserts!As y'all can plainly see, we had an awesome Thanksgiving celebration. And we have lots to be thankful for. This day really got me in the holiday mood. Can't wait to do it all again next year!