Twas quite the oink fest at our family's gathering yesterday. Last minute, I decided to make an extra dessert for the kids. Chocolate cupcakes dressed as turkeys.
We bought a box of Chocodiles (chocolate covered Twinkies) to try and they were not our cup of tea. I took one bite and threw the rest away. But you know kids, they'll eat anything so I used 1/3 of the 'dile to make a turkey face and used some googly eyes I had left from another recipe. I must say, there was no greater joy for me than watching my 4 year old second cousin go face first into that bad boy with chocolate ALL over his face. He was giggling and laughing while shoving that thing in like it was the best thing he ever had. So that made it worth it. When the kids were gone, my grandpa snagged two for him and grandma. My cousin snagged one and when he left it unattended his sister snatched some candy corn and his mom snatched part of the top. He yelled at his sister and ran into the kitchen with it and ate it over the sink. I should mention, he's 29.
I got a message from him back in October about making sure to bring my light pumpkin pie.
Knowing my cousins and how fast it went last year, I made an extra secret pie that we kept in the trunk...with two pieces missing. Don't know how that happened. ;-) When it was gone, I gave the nod to the Mr and he retrieved it for them. Pieces were taken to be saved for later with nasty notes threatening bodily harm on them.
Heck, they literally finished their plates and my cousin dug into the pumpkin pie and his sisters boyfriend dug into the apple crumb pie I made. It went SOOOO fast that I think next year I'm going to have to make two of those as well! Flattering though. Everyone was raving and when most of the people left, we brought in a basket of homemade pumpkin butter and banana bread muffins for my aunt and uncle who hosted so they wouldn't have to make breakfast this morning. They were very appreciative and I've probably just started something I'll be cursing come each holiday. HA!
When we were done, we stopped by the only grocery store open and I saw they cut their turkeys by 50% so yes even though I already have turkey in the fridge, I've got this bad boy thawing too.
This is what FoodSavers
(affiliate link) were made for so we'll get to have some yummy turkey when the season has passed.It was a nice holiday but also sad with Grandma needing tending to. The holidays were always a time where she would proudly show off her less than moist bird but fabulous noodles that more than made up for it. Its just hard to get used to seeing her and not having her personality there. There was a point when I went to take a drink out of my water bottle and she said "no, don't do that" and put her hand out like she was going to swat it away. So I put it down and I think she thought I was taking her drink. My mom showed her her glass with a straw and she drank out of that. I wasn't about to take a drink again without asking her so I asked if I could take a drink of mine and she said yes. So I did and she said "you should've known that." I said "you're right." It was kind of cute but then brought tears to my eyes and I had to focus on something else. She was good the first hour or so and then the noise was getting to her and she would hold her head like she was in pain but couldn't convey it. I was holding my four month old second cousin for about 45 minutes and I was sitting by Grandma and she did rub her feet and hold her hand. I wish someone had taken a picture. It was good to see that instinct kick in to want to play with a baby. But toward the end, you could tell she was tired and just wanted to go home. But for about 4 1/2 hours, she did well.
But enough of my schtuff, let's get to
I didn't get to read too much this week because I was BUSY but there are a few nuggets...
7 Holiday Traditions to Rethink This Christmas (Always important to pick and choose the traditions that mean most to you and your family and not get involved in time sucks)
Celebrities Read Mean Tweets (These always crack me up even though they're mean the people seem to have a good sense of humor about them)
Snow Shoveling 101: How Not to Kill Yourself (Good stuff to remember as mother nature dumped on a good portion of the country)
11 Things Men Don't Know About Their Clothes (Pretty interesting stuff...I bet a lot of ladies like myself didn't know this stuff either)
After Facing a Firestorm, Old Navy Revamps Its Plus-Size Policies (While that's nice, it would serve the plus sized ladies better to just bring the damn clothes back IN STORE so we can try them on first at every O.N.!)
The Making of Band Aid: Secrets and Stories From the Star-Studded Session (Seriously, 30 years? Interesting tidbits in there and no, I shant be listening to the new version)
Paul Rudd’s Hair In The ’80s Is A Thing Of Unexpected Beauty (All hail the Rudd)
Fast Ways to Debloat (Oh yeah, I need this. I did a little more carbo-loading than I planned on yesterday)
Steven Spielberg Wants to Remake The Last Starfighter But Can't (GOOD! I'm glad you can't! Some things need to be untouchable and good on the dude who owns the rights that isn't caving to the Hollywood "reboot" machine! You rock, sir!)
The Best Free Workout Videos on YouTube (In case you need to get to working off some o' dat stuffing!)
20th Century: The Evolution of Bargain Hunting (Wow, it actually looked quite awesome back in the early 1900s!)
How was your Thanksgiving? Are you shopping this Black Friday?
====================
Like this post? Don't miss another one...subscribe via email or RSS feed. (Or you can follow me on Facebook )
It was a great thanksgiving. I think I've finally come to the understanding that as much as I would love to have grandma back in her full capacities, I still like having her there among us and it's for those few moments where you see a sense of understanding or you see her hold a baby's hand in a gentle way because those instincts are still there. I am thankful for that moment yesterday.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the "holiday" is over as they are rarely joyous in our family. Too much baggage that gets brought to light, so I just tried to treat it like a Thursday I was off of work. Food was good, and I was particularly thankful that I washed every dish and utensil as I went a long so when we sat down to eat, there was nary a dish or fork left in the sink. Didn't do dessert this year but I am going to make some banana bread for mom on Monday when I bring her for her PET scan.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a Black Friday shopper, not just because I had to work but because I don't do well with traffic. Crowded stores don't bother me, but traffic I have a hard time with. The hubs went to a couple of stores today (we now have a 10 foot waving blowup santa in our front yard next to the pine tree), but quickly got aggravated so he took the dogs to the dog park instead--time well spent I'd say! I was in bed nice and early since I had to work and I was just spent. Mighty hard to get up this morning that's for sure!