Thanksgiving Day

OK, so I'm about 24 hours late with a Thanksgiving post. But yesterday was busy. The day started out slow. We ate some breakfast, watched the Macy's parade, and started making sure that we were ready to cook dinner.

About 1 PM I marinaded the ham, and put it in the electric roaster out on the patio. Then around 2 PM I fired up the heat under the peanut oil. Then I headed inside to get the old gobbler ready. I trimmed a little fat, dry rubbed the bird and injected the marinade. About the time that was finished the oil was hot and it was time for the turkey to take a hot bath.

We had only two guests for dinner. Rodney a friend from San Diego, who used to live here in Ridgecrest, and Dave, another local friend who is my main oyster dressing supplier. Dave makes a great oyster dressing and he always brings enough to share. Unfortunately he also likes turkey hearts. So we decided several years ago to take turns. This year was his turn so he got the turkey heart and I had to settle for the livers.

We sat down for dinner around 3:45. It was a huge feast and we all ate way too much. Just like you are supposed to. After dinner we were settling down to watch a movie and let our dinner settle before dessert. Shortly after the movie started my Niece Cassie, her husband Josh and new daughter stopped by to visit. Traditionally her family spends Thanksgiving dinner with us. But since her family has over doubled in size this year they wanted to spend a nice quiet Thanksgiving at home this year, with just the 15 of them. We told them they were all welcome. We couldn't get everyone around the table but since the temperature at dinner time was about 70 degrees we could have let the kids all eat out on the patio. But they opted to stay home and then just come visit for dessert.

We got to fuss over Cassie's new daughter for a few minutes. She is adorable just like Cassie was at that age, and still is today. Then 7 more of the family showed up. They brought a couple of cheesecakes to add to the four different pies we had here.

We were in the middle of dessert when Pete, Regine and their son Drew showed up from Corona. So they warmed up some leftovers and ate while we had dessert. Then they got their dessert also.

It wasn't a normal Thanksgiving for us, but eventually we had a house full of family and friends and everyone got to sit around, chat, laugh, and just enjoy the evening together. That made it a perfect day!

After everyone else had left the house, I got the turkey fryer cleaned up, and the rest of the dishes into the washer. Then my oldest daughter and I moved all of the Christmas decorations from the attic into the garage. That way my dear wife and kids could spend all day friday exploding Christmas all over our house. I am very thankful for my daughter's help. Her ability to handle boxes that I passed down to her saved me about 30 trips up and down the ladder. Which was a wonderful gift for my poor old broken down knees.

For my Thanksgiving Day I am thankful for:

My dear, sweet, loving, beautiful wife,
my three adorable children,
all our good riends who spent the day with us,
getting to spend some time with Cassie, Kym, Josh, and the new baby,
getting to know some of Dave's new family better,
my new job (even if I don't know what I'm doing there yet),
all our other friends and family that were not able to spend the day with us.

I'm especially thankful for my Nephew Chris who is deployed with the United States Navy in Japan where he serves as a P3 flight engineer, and my Nephew Adam who is deployed with the Marines in Iraq. I am thankful for these two men and all the other Men and Women of the United States Military who are defending my family's freedom.

I'm thankful for President Bush I hope he and his administration continue to stay the line on all fronts of the Global War on Terror, and don't give in to the irrational and illadvised attacks being constantly launched by his political opponents.

Lastly I am thankful for my life as a whole. I have great family, good friends, a decent job and the freedom to enjoy them all.