Thanksgiving 2024

 Thanks giving was a blast in 2024. Everyone in our nuclear family plus a lot of extended family were there. I surprised myself how much I was looking forward to it. 

Saturday
This was the day our three turkeys plus seven from the Browns would give their lives for ours after we cared for them for three months. It was ten hours from start to finish at the Brown Family Farmette. The largess bird was 38 pounds after butchering! Lynne and Abigail helped a lot; Abigail was particularly good removing the guts. 

Tuesday
This was the day people started showing up at Boyer World. Grandma and grandpa flew in at mid day and Chelsea and Lydia came in at night. Fortunately they got an earlier flight, and since they were on the flight with Garrett, the Gallahers picked them up for us. Props to the G's. 

Wednesday
Preparation day started with the cooking and baking, but not before the “sleep in finally” work was completed. I worked part of the day but it was very hard to focus and I finally cut loose and joined the party. In the evening my mother, with Dylan driving, and brother with his family showed up. 
For dinner we had
  • White chicken chili
  • Chili con carne
  • Corn bread
Having all those people sleeping in the house was fun. It felt like a little house on the prairie Thanksgiving. 
Thursday
There was so much cooking to be done and food was everywhere! The refrigerators were full and there were cooler's outside. We cooked the 23 pound bird fairly simply in a bag with an injection I concocted.  On the table for the centerpiece was a picture of our turkeys. LOL. Miss Jane had the idea to sign the paper with well wishes for our turkeys in Turkey heaven.  We capped the evening off with a game night with Uno and quirkle. Our menu was
  • Sides
    • Squash and apple bake  
    • Sweet potatoes  casserole 
    • Green beans with almonds 
    • Mash potatoes 
    • Stuffing  
    • Rutabagas 
    • Cranberry sauce 
    • Mac n cheese  
  • Turkey  and Gravy  
  • Desserts
    • Pumpkin pie
    • Pecan pie Matt
    • Pumpkin roll Chelsea
    • Whipped cream girlies
    • Hagen Daz peppermint bark ice cream bars



Friday
We trekked up to Gaver farm to pick out our Christmas tree with the whole crew in two cars. I took the she saw with me which is surely a cop out, but when a family borrowed it and the others eyed it jealously I realized I made the right choice.  It was a long walk back to the best trees but it was well worth it and we were awarded with a great tree and a great photo in front of the so cool Gaver farm pickup truck. Cider donuts made us forget our tired legs. 
After dinner we put up the tree and decorated it together while watching the classic, Daddy's Home 2. 










The only bad thing that happened was one naughty person playing a thanksgiving prank on her father. While I was lounging with my family, being an exquisite host, what did I hear? I heard a child scream in sheer terror, "Dad there is water running out of the dishwasher!" I jumped up and ran madly to the kitchen where I saw bottles of water in running shoes leaving the dishwasher. I immediately remembered Abigail telling me about a tik tok another bad child did to prank her father. Clearly, Tik Tok is a bad influence.


Saturday
Meme drove Lydia and Chelsea to the airport in mid day. That was sad but we will actually be heading out to see them the next weekend. 
We continued decorating. Abigail led the re-creation of the Christmas village which had three new houses and looked amazing as usual. I got some lights up outside. We got the Knick knacks out around and batteries in all the animatronics so that the air was filled with the peanuts singing Christmas carols. It was beginning to look great (save the boxes still cluttering). 
Tuesday
We bid adieu to our last party people when Lynne's folks flew out Tuesday morning and it was back to three in the home, but we had traded time for some great memories together

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