Thanksgiving dinner

So, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday--of all the holidays. Not only is it a non-commercialized opportunity to express gratitude and appreciation for the many blessings of life, but you get to eat lots of really good food.

However, sadly, all of my family is scheduled to be at their in-laws for this, my favorite holiday, which sadened me to no end until my husband suggested that we make dinner and celebrate Thanksgiving the Sunday before at our house, which our family wanted to see anyway. So, despite the fact that my experience as a chef goes back about one month (since I got married, basically), I decided to take on the challenge of making a turkey and all the fixings. Well, almost all the fixings. I let my sister bring the yams since she loves them and volunteered. My other sister brought rolls, and my mom brought pomegranite salad, which is her family's staple Thanksgiving dish, and a personal favorite.

And the good news . . .

everything ended up perfectly. The turkey was great, moist and not overdone. The stuffing I made from scratch (with not much of a recipe) was delicious, which is saying something because I don't really like stuffing. And the green bean casserole was good. Amazing gravy, yummy mashed potatoes (is anyone else hungry now?). And the table looked great. We made limeade from scratch the Brazilian way, that was a big hit. And the house was clean, I had time to look good. But best of all . . . it wasn't even that stressful. We did a lot of the prep Saturday night and we had a solid plan for while the turkey was cooking. Everything came out at the right time and was hot at the same time. It was perfect. And then after dinner, we all got to talk and play games and we had some great bonding moments. I got to know my brother-in-law pretty well, which is great since I haven't seen him much and didn't feel like I knew him at all. And he's great.

Ahh . . . this is why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.