Even though it wasn't my year to have everyone here for Thanksgiving, Eldest and his family, plus my in-laws were in attendence. We managed to gorge ourselves on the 26 pound turkey, 7 pies and various other trimmings. I didn't take all that many pictures, but here were some I did get.
The cute little guy. He's 9 months old now and pulling himself up on all kinds of things.
The table before all the carnage.
The tryptophan apparently got to Eldest.
What the Little Guy and the SGB were up to after dinner. They managed to empty the video cupboard all over the floor.
....Christmas cards of all shapes and sizes. I've become a stalker of the Kristina Werner blog. I've even gone to Youtube and gone through last year's set of holiday videos.
I really need to get some other stuff done. On the other hand, I have a nice stash of Christmas cards.
For the past couple of weeks, our family has been dealing with an interesting situation. PB complained of a sharp ear pain around the middle of the month. In the couple of days following, he also developed a sore jaw and some tingling on his tongue. When he started complaining of numbness on one side of his face, DH and I finally put everything together in consultation with another Dr. and realized that he had developed something called Ramsay-Hunt syndrome which left him with Bell's Palsy, probably due to a shingles breakout. Instead of getting the rash usually associated with shingles, he got facial nerve irritation.
The thing with Bell's Palsy, is that it can last anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months and in rare instances never resolves. We had PB on anti-inflammatory and anti-viral medications quite quickly, so we are hoping for a shorter recovery. The timing really stinks, though, since he's got this "Messiah" solo coming up and when only half your face works, making some of the words is difficult.
What amazes me is this kid's patient, accepting attitude. I mean, it's not like he can really do anything else, but when I think about how much he's had to deal with in his not-very-long life with the leftovers of being premature, I am amazed. Here he is, an 18 year old kid, who can't drive because his vision's not good enough, who deals with the visual repercussions on a daily basis, and we're going to take the one thing that comes pretty easily to him (singing) and make that hard, too. He never once in his life has said, "Why me?" As his mom, I've asked "Why him?" on multiple occasions as new issues have cropped up.
He is a little self-conscious about how he looks when he smiles or talks with a one-sided face, but do you know what he said to me about going through this? "It sure makes for some good pirate faces, Mom."
I've been hearing "Yarrrrrrrr" alot lately. Love this kid.
If you have read my blog for any length of time, you probably know that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. My reason for this is simple. It has all the warm family connection without all the hoopla and rat race that goes with Christmas. I'm not big on hoopla and rat race. And I'm totally irritated by the appearance of Christmas stuff before Halloween. It makes me want to throw things and destroy store displays. I walk very fast past them so nobody has to call security.
This year we have tried an idea that was featured on Becky Higgins blog. We made a grateful poster. Most days we have remembered to add something we are grateful for. It has been interesting to see some of the entries. Things like flush toilets, hot water, snow, and grandbabies have all made an appearance.
I hope that during this week, before the tinsel and ornaments take over, you can find some way to think about the things you are grateful for.
I am thankful for a lot of things, several of which have been documented on our Grateful poster. (More on that tomorrow.) Today I am grateful for those of you who take the time to stop by on occasion and see what's going on here. It's not earth-shattering stuff, but I appreciate your spending a little time here and sometimes leaving comments about my ramblings.
And because I'm thankful for you, I've divided up some of the Kristina Werner holiday cards that I've made this month into 2 packets that I'm going to give away. Did you know that she did a similar group of videos last year. I have been making up some of those as well. :) To get a chance at one of these packets, just leave a comment on this post telling me something you're thankful for this year. You have until 6 PM MST Thanksgiving Day, which is when we'll be sitting down to dinner here. I will draw 2 random numbers using random.org for these card packets. I will post the winner's names Friday morning and will have them in the mail to you by Monday, November 29, so you'll have them in plenty of time for sending. Thank you again and leave those comments!
The cards I have duplicated from the holiday tutorials on Kristina Werner's blog for last week. In addition to the regular 5 holiday cards, I also lifted 2 designs from her Year in Cards November post. They are also Christmas cards...imagine that!
Day 11--Basic Wassail mostly here. I added some lace trim I had.
Day12--Basic Grey Figgy Pudding papers. Making Memories flower and tag. I made the scalloped edge by punching 3/4" circles and gluing them around the circle.
Day 13--
Day 14--Remember that square cards require extra postage.
Day 15--Really old Karen Foster patterned paper here
Year In Cards--Mostly Basic Grey Wassail papers and chipboard.
First off, look what we woke up to yesterday morning!
The first snow of the season always makes me so happy. I love a good snowfall, especially if I don't have to go anywhere. Everything is quiet and clean and bright. I love snow.
This is going to be a rather long food related post---just warning you. I took some time yesterday to get a little Thanksgiving dinner prep done.
The cranberry sauce is finished. I'm not a big fan of cranberry sauce, but DH is....and not the jellied kind. He likes the whole berry, from scratch real deal. The nice thing about it is that it's really easy to do and you can make it way ahead. Throw the cranberries into a pot with some water and sugar and let it do its thing.
The other thing accomplished was a couple of pie crusts in the freezer and the pumpkin ready for the pie. Several years ago when we started growing our own gardens, we experimented a bit with pumpkins. We grew big, fat ones for jack-o-lanterns, which we still do, and we also grew miniatures for decorating and smaller, sweet "sugar" pumpkins that we cooked up for pies. With the squash bug debacle, we abandoned the specialty kinds and just concentrated on getting some for Halloween (and then my kids didn't carve them....party poopers).
When we went to the pumpkin patch last month, they had some sugar pumpkins there and I picked up a couple for pie. I know, it seems like a lot of trouble, but again my DH really likes them from the ground up. It's that whole "I love whatever takes the longest amount of time to make" thing. But it's really not hard to do. So here, for your viewing pleasure is pumpkin prep, from the ground up.
First you need pumpkins. These are the two I picked up. They aren't that big.....maybe about 9" straight through the middle.
You cut them up and scrape out the guts. I hate scraping out the guts. If you leave a few strings, that's OK. This is not an exact science.
Put them on a cookie sheet, cover them with foil and bake for a couple of hours at 350 degrees. Go play while they're baking.
Pull them out when they are soft and let them cool a little. Scrape the pulp out, put it in your food processor and puree it. (Apparently my focus point was the rim of the cookie sheet....sigh.)
At this stage you have what The Girl says looks like baby food. Yes it does.
Now it's ready to use just like canned pumpkin, or you can freeze it for future pies, cookies or bread. I got about 3 1/2 cups of puree from the 2 pumpkins I baked. I put this bag in the freezer and made up my pie filling with the other 2 cups. Pumpkin pie filling freezes very well. Just use your favorite recipe. If your favorite recipe comes from the back of the Libby's can, you can just substitute your puree for the stuff in the can or you can use our favorite recipe here. It comes from the Fanny Farmer Baking Book.
Pumpkin Pie
1 unbaked 9" pie shell
2 cups pumpkin puree, either cooked fresh or canned
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups evaporated milk (which is what I use) or heavy cream
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teapsoon salt
1 1/2 teapsoons cinnamon
1 teapsoon powdered ginger
1/2 teapsoon nutmeg
1/4 teapsoon ground cloves
1/4 teapsoon ground allspice
Preheat oven 450 degrees. Prick pie crust all over with a fork, then press a piece of heavy-duty foil directly in the pie shell. Bake for 6 minutes, remove the foil, and bake for about 4 minutes more, until just beginning to brown. Remove from oven and set aside.
In a large bowl, beat together the pumpkin puree and eggs. Add the milk and sugar, then spices. Beat until the mixture is smooth.
Pour into the pie shell and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 300 degrees and continue baking for 30-40 minutes, until the filling is almost set; a sharp knife inserted slightly off-center will come out almost clean, with traces of the custard on it. The center of the pie should not be completely firm. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.
