699 miles to Gramma and Pop Pop's house (that's just one way)...but it's worth it every time. Thanksgiving for our family is 3 day festival. It begins on Wednesday with rest and shopping for groceries, and for dinner we have Gramma's Rigatoni (we start stretching out our stomachs the night before so that we can eat more on Thursday) . Thursday begins early around 5:45 -6:00. Gramma gets up and makes the stuffing, stuffs the Turkey, and starts to cook him. When the rest of us decided to get up we snack on cold Rigatoni for breakfast and there is a few of us who will go for a run. Cooking a turkey is hard work. We take turns basting him and taking his temperature to see when he's done...you can't over cook or he'll be dry. We prepare for the side dishes while the turkey is cooking so that they are ready for the oven when the bird is done. We have a very strict menu: Tukey (of course), broccoli cheese casserole (don't be fooled there is triple the amount of cheese and buttery crackers than broccoli - this is not a healthy dish), squash casserole (same as broccoli casserole - LOTS of cheese), mashed potatoes, gravy, pickles, olives, apple suace, green beans, corn, rolls, and the best stuffing (and this is NOT the same as dressing for all the southerners who don't know) . We eaqually divide the stuffing from the turkey among all of us...so we usually only get a bite, but it's the best bite of the whole meal. What takes us 6 hours to cook only takes about 20 minutes to eat. We gobble til we wobble, so we have our annual football game (this year I got to be captain of my team). The game doesn't usually last very long b/c the turkey has made us sleepy and we are ready for pumpkin pie. Friday we eat leftovers for lunch and the girls go get pedicures (Gramma's treat) and we end the festival with pizza from Perini's - the best pizza ever!
Wednesday we prepare for Thursday, Thursday we celebrate, and Friday we have to recoop from Thursday...as crazy as it may seem it's the best 3 days of the year.
What are your favorite Thanksgiving traditions??? Things you do every year? Foods that you always eat? What is a tradition you'd like to start?
1 comment:
thr DRESSING is the best part! in fact i don't even need the turkey-just give me dressing and canned cranberry sauce and i'm completely happy. but i just can't make it like my mom (and her mom before that). so my mom has to make it every year!
y'all look like a happy bunch!
~m
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