The Day After

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving I wanted to share. Angie came over early to set the tables up, then she started the turkey at her house. It had to be baked 500 degrees for 30 minutes, and I was afraid to trust my oven. She brought it back, and the girls stayed the most of the afternoon. I finished the turkey in my oven roaster. Gary and Morgan baked brownies.

Guess who arrived at around 1:30.....

This is our standard portrait of Mark on holidays. He also brought Sheila. We started the day watching football. When it got closer to dinner time (6pm), I finished my part....the giblet gravy.
To keep my knee from swelling so badly when I cook, the PT lady suggested I sit down and rest my foot on a step stool if possible while in the kitchen. Sheila found it so amusing, she grabbed my camera for a photo op.

The turkey was done about an hour before the official dinner time, and Mark did his normal routine......... carving the turkey.

Sheila ALMOST had an accident. She was sneaking bits of turkey while Mark was carving, and almost lost her hand. Alas, she ended up only with turkey juice on her glasses. That turkey was the juiciest turkey we had ever seen. It was really good. THANK YOU PIONEER WOMAN ! Angie invited her best friend since junior high, Shannon, and her three kids over for dinner as well. They arrived before Angie. We definitely had one large festive, noisey, fun Thanksgiving. (Well, I can't speak for Mark and Sheila, cause I doubt they've ever been around that many screaming kids at one time!) When Angie got here, at 5:45, she brought over corn casserole, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pecan bourbon....pumpkin....and apple-caramel pies. Madison (Shannons 14 year old daughter) brought a sweet potato pie... made from scratch. We proceeded to do Chloe's favorite part, all saying the blessing before we ate.

We all voted my Pioneer Woman Turkey the most delicious, moist turkey any of us had ever had. Now, I don't know if it's the recipe or the fact that it was a Range Free Turkey from Sprouts. I've found a winner recipe...use both every year. We all ate like pigs, and drank lots of delicious wine and beer....thank you Sheila and Mark and Shannon. After dinner, we all ended up watching football, or playing Wii, or else roaming between the two.

Everyone had left by 10:30. Chloe and I stayed up til around 12:00 playing Wii resort. It had been a long fun day. (Yes, my knee was hurting, but ice throughout the day made it not as bad as it could have been.)

This morning, I got up to the sound of Morgan and Gary. I went in, and they were having breakfast tea, Morgan style. Nothing is ever easy with that child. I decided to take some "morning after" pictures. Here's what you wake up to if you get up at the Gibbons house the day after Thanksgiving at our house.

A mess, but it was created with great fun and friends. Angie came over to help clean up the mess (and also to work on our PC's) and Gary refused to let her help clean. He said he wanted to do it himself. Well, that was this morning. Here is the house this afternoon........ never mind.... just look at the same pictures that were taken above, but forget the ones with the girls in them. What happened to Gary cleaning the house? Well Morgan and Gary decided to go see Mega Mind. They came home, and Morgan gave it a BIG THUMBS UP. Said it was great.

While they were gone, Angie, Chloe, Eric and I reheated some leftovers. Once again, the turkey was good, as were all the casserole dishes and pie. I tried to blog, but Angie fixed everything except backing out IE8. I just finished that, and once again I can blog with ease. Now Angie is trying to get me to buy myself a new lap top.... a MAC, cause they have a 10 hour battery expectancy. Wow, that would make it 9 hours and 15 minutes longer than I can get on my lap top now, or ever could, even brand new. This battery just doesn't last. Maybe I'll ask Santa for one. Guess I'll quit blogging, as Gary has actually finished cleaning the kitchen. He and Dad have gone out to dinner, and I'm going to do knee exercises. What an exciting life. Oh yes, need I say my diet starts tomorrow....... yeah right!