Turkey Monday

I don't know why I enjoy hosting events at my house.  I'm not particularly social.  I'm not a great cook, but I do have my specialties.  For some reason, I like cooking for a crowd way more than I like cooking for my family of five.  Figure that one out.

But since I now boast membership in a wonderful, old-as-dirt family with traditions that go just as far back, I wholeheartedly believe I will never host Thanksgiving at my home.  I'm coming to grips with that.  And I know that probably sounds a little strange for a not-particularly-social, non-cook.  The traditions are great, don't get me wrong.

The thing is, thanks to my husband volunteering me to cook turkey for his office Thanksgiving lunch several years back, turkey is now what I would consider to be one of my specialties.

That's random.  But that's me.

I remember when he came home that first year, and said he'd organized a Thanksgiving lunch at the office...would I mind cooking the turkey?  I almost choked.  For a non-cook, turkey is no small task.  So I did what any engineer would do - I started my research.  I finally settled on a combination of Emeril and Alton Brown's recipes for Roast Turkey brine, consulted the Butterball website for cooking time, invested in a meat thermometer, and the tradition began.

A couple of years ago, after reorganizing their office structure, Sam and his coworkers went out for Thanksgiving lunch.  I took it as a personal insult.  The next year, they started the tradition back up.

This year, it was the first time I cooked with the three kids at home with me.  It was the first time I smelled the turkey for the entire time it roasted instead of rushing home from work to make sure it wasn't over-done.  (The smell all day, by the way, was totally torturous.)  I have to say, after so many years of doing it, I've got Turkey Day running like a well-oiled machine.  Things were going great right down to delivery time, when I realized I still had three kids to get dressed and ready to go.  Darn them.  That does add "one or two minutes" to the routine.

We got there in time, but with all of the last-minute rushing I didn't get a picture of the finished product.  Instead, I got this shot of a practically raw turkey stuffed with butter.

And this really random shot of carrots, onions, and celery for the stuffing...because I thought it was pretty.

While we waited on the dirty dishes from lunch, the kids and I went to the lake down the street and found some Jurassic-sized leaves,

looked out over the water,

and posed for a cheesin'-on-the-bridge photo.

And even if little Sarah absolutely despises holding my hand to get from point A to point B, she'll apparently hold Ben and Abby's hands at any given moment.  I guess I have a new strategy to get from point A to point B, huh?

And that's that.  The kitchen is clean, the roasting pan is soaking, the kids are tuckered out, and SO AM I.  Tomorrow, I move on to pumpkin rolls, gooey cake, a library run, and some 75% off long-sleeved tees at Old Navy.  And maybe, just maybe, I'll make the kids do a fun Thanksgiving craft against their will.  Bwahahaha.