Thanksgiving 2008.

Every year at the kids' school they re-create the first Thanksgiving feast complete with costumes (second graders are the Native Americans and third graders are the Pilgrims), some of the foods they ate and the prayers, etc they said at the first meal. I guess there is record of this in history? Anyways, it was on Tuesday (Nov. 25), their last day of school before the Thanksgiving break. Elizabeth was excited. Some photos from the event:



We drove to Pikeville on the day before Thanksgiving (Nov. 26) and met Tom for dinner at Ruby Tuesday's and to grab a few last minute groceries. I bought most of what we needed and Tom got the turkey and ham. I found out only a couple of days prior that I was not only making a ham but a turkey too. This was going to be only my second turkey but I had asked my mom how she did hers. I do not eat turkey but the last time I made it everyone liked it a lot so I wanted to do it the same. She had told me before how she did hers.


Thanksgiving morn I got up and started what I could to have things ready. I told everyone we would eat at 5:30. When Leslie Farmer says we'll eat at 5:30 then the food WILL be ready at 5:30. Mark it down. ;) I've had many years of having the food ready for Wade as soon as he walks in the door from work. He likes it this way and really so do I. He gets off at 5 and the food is ready at 5:20. He's in trouble the days he's late. Really, he is. :) So I started the sweet potato-nut casserole (my SIL, Stacy's grandmother's recipe), the corn casserole (made by my friend Beth for me when I had Elizabeth), the turkey and decided what I would do with the not quite average ham my FIL had bought for me to prepare. I'm a spiral-sliced ham kind of girl and just don't like any other kind. I may volunteer to buy the ham next year.


Wade and I got out a set of china and went ahead and set the table.



Along with the sweet potato-nut casserole, corn casserole, ham, and turkey, I also made green beans (home grown from my parents' garden), yeast rolls (frozen, I don't do flour too much), stuffing, turkey gravy (first for me and it was good!), Jackson pies and honeybun cake. It was hard to juggle everything in the oven but I got a rotation going and the food was ready and being set on the table a minute or two before 5:30. This is when I had my meltdown though. I can't go into details but it had to do with a certain BIL and SIL. Grrrr! Must be thankful. Must be thankful. Yes, I really am. I wouldn't want one of those hunky dory, lovey dovey, picture perfect families, now would I? I would love it. I dream of it. Just kidding! LOL



Anyways, after having my meltdown and declaring to Wade that I will not be cooking the Thanksgiving meal next year, I enjoyed the delicious feast I had created. Everyone else enjoyed it as well despite the absence of gushing compliments. ROFL (Man, I am in a mood tonight, aren't I? LOL)


We enjoyed some family time afterwards. I got to play with Brooke and Sarah Briley. The kids enjoyed having Brooke (Tollette's step daughter) to play with. Brooke obviously enjoyed me as well and kept wanting me to play with her. All was good even though hardly anyone ate my desserts. You'd think I was still bitter over all this, eh? (Below on left, Sarah Briley and on right, Andrew and Elizabeth with Aunt Giny)



On Friday morning, Andrew and Wade had plans to go deer hunting at the farm with Tollette. They have gone hunting before but usually it's just "go out to the farm for a few hours and see if you can see anything but not shoot anything" kind of hunting. Well! Tollette was being a good uncle and a few weeks prior had set about six large round bales up to make a hunting fort. It was to keep the cold wind from them as much as possible. Decked out in their camouflage and carrying their 308s, they headed for the farm.


Around 8:30, I get a phone call from Wade that he had shot not one but TWO deer! He's so excited and starts rambling about getting a freezer for the house to hold all the meat. I tried to talk sense into him. LOL We had talked about getting a freezer in the past but for many reasons (one being we don't have a space for one and two being we don't NEED one) decided to not get one. I was trying to tell him to just LEAVE the deer in the woods. Yes, I know that is wrong but hello, is it worth paying $$$ for a freezer plus around $60 a deer to be slaughtered? Does anyone else see my reasoning here? Of course you do. Right? I do only have women readers, I think, so I know everyone agrees with me. ;) ;) ;)


The story about TWO DEER: Wade and Andrew went out around 5:30 am when it was still dark out. It was just barely dark, still grayish, when Wade saw a deer walk out on a ridge. It was walking quickly and was pretty far away, over 200 yards. It was walking diagonally and hard to get a shot broadside. Wade's scope was getting fogged up as he was holding it on the deer but wasn't sure he could get a clear shot. He had partially pulled the trigger already so just as the deer finally turned, he pulled the rest of the way. He saw it take off and thought he had missed. However, Andrew saw it go down and even though he told his daddy, Wade didn't believe him.


They went back into the fort to wait and about 20 minutes later, another came out. Wade and Andrew were still yakking about the first deer when Wade happened to look and see the second deer. He told Andrew to be quiet and got ready to shoot. He shot at the deer and knew it had been hit. This one ran into the woods though and had to be tracked. I won't go into details of this but found it pretty interesting as to how they tracked it. Maybe too many episodes of CSI? When they were going back to get the four-wheeler, they saw the first deer. Wade and Andrew were pumped and in disbelief.


Tollette couldn't believe Wade's luck. He joked with him about only going hunting every 20 years and always hitting a jackpot. The last time he went (about 20 years ago), he shot a six point buck. We worked out the meat situation. Tollette took one and we are sharing the wealth with some friends. ;)


We left Pikeville as soon as we could to get back home so we could get Christmas decorations out. As soon as we got off our exit, we drove to a tree lot to see how much they were selling for. We found the one we wanted for only $40. We had wanted to buy a new "faux fir" but hadn't had time to shop for one. So we ran home, got the truck, went back and bought it (plus a tree stand at the Walgreens next door), went back home to set it up in the house and then back out for Mexican. :) It was fun. We loved having a real tree and it was so much taller than the artificial we had used for the past 8-9 years. A good change. We got the lights up on that night and got the decorations down to do the next day. I think the live tree may be a welcoming change for the next few years.