Our First Thanksgiving Home Alone

We were supposed to go to Arizona for Thanksgiving this year, but due to some unexpected expenses and a boat load of homework, we decided we shouldn't go. Of course we had some amazing people offer to pay our way, but I didn't feel good about letting anyone else do that. It's not cheap to go and it shouldn't be anyone else's expense. Plus, I was drowning in homework and housework and the thought of going anywhere added to my stress.

The nice thing about staying home was that we got to experience our first Thanksgiving where we prepared the entire meal from start to finish. Bonus, Nick's work gives him a turkey every year so we didn't have to buy one.

We had two mishaps in the process that were pretty frustrating. The first was when Nick went to pull the turkey out of the oven he spilled a large amount of turkey juice inside the oven in the process. The problem with that is the turkey was the first of many dishes that needed to be baked in the oven. Every time we opened the oven after that, the house filled with smoke and it killed my eyes. It was like a fresh cut onion was chopped over and over again. Because of this mishap it made the whole process feel a little more chaotic and for sure less enjoyable.

Then at the end of the meal when we were cleaning up, I was helping Nick throw the remaining turkey parts and drippings into a garbage bag when once again Nick spilled turkey juice everywhere. Only this time it wasn't inside the oven; it was all over the floor and our feet. It was basically like dumping half a bottle of vegetable oil all over the floor. Okay, maybe it wasn't that bad, but pretty close. I felt pretty dirty after all was said and done. You know how when you go camping your hair and clothes wreak of campfire smoke? I felt like that only I wreaked of turkey smoke. 

But overall the food turned out pretty good. Everything that was baked in the oven had a slight smoked turkey taste to it, but it wasn't bad. It was a little anticlimactic when we sat down to eat. It felt a little like any other day only with a much larger selection of food to eat. Shelby ate a little of everything on her plate. Shasta tasted everything, but she only filled up on salad. That girl loves salad and ranch "dress-up" as she calls it!

Our meal consisted of turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, homemade rolls, salad, and homemade dressing.

Then of course for dessert we had chocolate cream pie with Kit Kats and homemade pumpkin pie. Don't ask why Nick cut the pie that way... I have no idea either! I forgot to take a picture of the pumpkin roll. I prefer cake over pie so pumpkin roll is something I make every year.

After lunch we went to Nick's Aunt Lori's house for dessert and games. Nick's parents were there along with a lot of other relatives. We were invited to come for Thanksgiving dinner too, but we wanted to take advantage of doing our own this year. Although I'm glad we got to experience doing our own after being married and having NINE Thanksgivings together, I didn't want to miss out completely on seeing family for the holiday. That's kind of the more important part of the day. And now that we've done our own Thanksgiving together, I think it's okay to wait a good nine or so years before we do it again!