Thanksgiving 2009

We were trying to make a family trip to Tennessee work for Thanksgiving this year, but when we decided it would be too tough on the kids (and Nick and I's sanity) to fit in two 12+ hour drives in 2 months, we decided to stay in Chicago. We thought we would be alone, but Nick's Dad and Stepmom flew in from Texas for the holiday! This year was my first Thanksgiving to cook the meal myself. I was excited for weeks and began planning for the big day. I wanted to make a few things that I could call my own and begin traditions with (if they were a success this year). After rifling through tons of websites, numerous calls to my Mom and my neighbors past recipes, I decided on the following menu:

For Breakfast:
Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
Sausage Balls

For Dinner:
Turkey (organic and from a local butcher so my vegetarian husband would eat it)
Gravy - from Turkey drippings
Cranberry Salad - a gelatin number that was pretty good
Corn Casserole (a little Texas casserole flare)
Trader Joes Ciabatini Rolls (Best rolls ever)
Asparagus
Sage Stuffing (this is a new tradition - thanks Steve and Cathy)
Smashed Potatoes (an interesting recipe from a cooking magazine that explained this ladies attempt to make the best mashed potatoes out there - these were damn good)
Emeril's Pecan Pie
Peanut Butter Pie

This picture is a third of the groceries. After this, I still had a Trader Joes trip and visit to the butcher to go!



Thank goodness we have such amazing neighbors, Steve and Cathy. They leant me tons of serving dishes, fancy utensils and matching glassware (since Nick and I can't keep glassware in this house without dropping most of it). I'm glad to report all of Cathy's things made it through the holiday serving and hand washing!

I warned Mom, far far away in Austin, to have her phone close by all day because I'd be calling. My Mom received her first call around 8 am. At the last minute I decided to wet the stuffing with giblet stock instead of just canned chicken broth, so I need some encouragement from Mom. I was really worried about timing everything right so I'm quite sure I asked the same questions about 100 times.

Naida and I rolled out cinnamon rolls from dough I had prepared the day before. It seems like I'm getting the hang of these since most were all about the same size and fit nicely in just 2 pans. However, I still need to fine tune the baking time since these look amazing, but the middle rolls were still raw when they were served. This was not the way I wanted to start the cooking day off, but at least now I can say this was the biggest oops.



On to the big meal. The plan was around the Cowboy game of course, so things needed to be ready by 2 since the game started at 3:15. Nick was going to make the pies and the turkey but as the day approached, all items slid to my to-do list. Since I'm a control freak, it wasn't a big deal and I took the added items with a smile. So his job was to watch the kiddos. The parade entertained Naida for about 2 seconds since the first hour was nothing but commentary so he had his hands full. Mimi and Grandpa brought the kids matching jammies that they wore most of the day!


The cooking frenzy continued and the kitchen went from a huge mess to a presentable meal with lots of help from Mimi! The picture of what was served makes everything look so simple and easy to me when the day was filled with flour and sage all over the floor and the coutertops pasted with every ingredient. Anyway, dinner was served at 2:15 and boys with smiles joined us at the table. Nana (my Mom) got the cute purple dress for Naida so I tried to match the family for a much needed family photo. Finally, we now have a decent family picture!













Here are a few more pics of fun times had over the weekend! We had wonderful weather for our Texas visitors and we can't thank you enought for spending the holiday with us Grandpa and Mimi! See you at Christmas!!

Mommy and Sabine hanging out after a long Thanksgiving Day



Mimi and the girls!



The boys couldn't stay inside long the day after Thanksgiving and had to do some shopping. While they were out, the girls decorated the Christmas tree that Grandpa so kindly put together the night before. Okay, I'll clarify they were shopping for electronics, nothing girl exciting :)



Sabine working on holding up her noggin. She's hated tummy time, so its quite an achievement to have her on her stomach without screaming



We went to the circus on Friday and this was a wonderful pic I took myself of Sabine and I. It ended up being the most decent pic of the afternoon and you can tell by this that the others must have been terrible! The circus was fun and we had a great time until I felt like barfing when watching elephants and tigers do things you know they were beaten silly to learn. I'm pretty sure it will be my last trip to the big top



Grandpa got the best smiles out of Sabine!



Grandpa's birthday was at the end of October, so Nick and I got he and Mimi tickets to see the Vienna Boys Choir while they were in Chicago for Thanksgiving. This was taken just before the big date. Happy Birthday Grandpa!



With the holiday energy that I had left, Naida and I made turkey sugar cookies. I had all the goodies to make these things weeks ago and just kept putting it off. Today we finally did it and Naida had a blast decorating them. We made cut-outs of my hand, Naida's and Daddy's. Can you tell which one is Nick's??!!