Thanksgiving 2015

This guy was delicious!

Don't say it. I know. But I also want to put down in words what has been going on over the last month and a half and that means recapping Thanksgiving, Christmas and more!

The girls toasting with Grammi!

Today I'll just focus on Thanksgiving. 

Sydney enjoyed her alone time with us and her school's Thanksgiving feast!

Each of the girls got a little splash of Champagne with their orange juice at dinner so they could say they had Mimosas too. 

We began prepping for Thanksgiving the weekend before. This involved the task of "prepping" our turkey - in that we had to kill it, de-feather it and gut it. This process would be the determining factor on whether we want to raise turkeys this year. 

I missed this girl while she was gone!

I'll leave out the gory details, but be rest assured, both Thanksgiving and Christmas (the turkeys) went quickly. Unfortunately, we didn't realize just how big these two had gotten and the plucking process turned into a large job. The pot of hot water we had wasn't big enough, nor was the water hot enough. We spent a majority of the day plucking because of this. We even gave up on Christmas and just breasted her out. Thanksgiving got his revenge in the end, too. When I had finally finished plucking him and moved him to the fridge, I wrenched my back. Gutted and plucked, he weighed 40 lbs! We think Christmas was about 30.

This was taken before I was completely done plucking. Almost too big for the cookie sheet. 

I wasn't sure I'd be able to run my annual Run to Feed the Hungry run on Thanksgiving, my back hurt so bad for the next few days. Luckily, rest and time in our hot tub healed me just in time. It was a cold, bright day that morning, so I bundled up for the run. I should have known better. No matter how cold it is, I don't need an extra jacket over my long-sleeved shirt or gloves, I warm up so much during the actual run. And now I know exactly what time to arrive, and where to park, that I only have to wait 15 minutes or so before the start of the run any how. Later that night, while we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving parade, I learned it had been warmer in New York that morning than in Sacramento! It was 50 degrees there and only 34 degrees here!

Other than that, Thanksgiving was pretty low key. London spent the week with Grammi since she was off of school and we had to work. Both arrived on Thanksgiving in time for dinner. Since I have my run in the AM, and I know the turkey will take up most of the oven prior to dinner, I do most of the cooking and baking the evening before. We have our little dinner down to a science after just 2 years on our own for this holiday. I find the whole affair quite relaxing and look forward to our Thanksgiving at home. I did start prep this year, two days early, only to make the brine for Thanksgiving. We read that for turkeys as large as 30+ lbs they should be brined to ensure moist meat for eating. 

This smelled heavenly - it's the Pioneer Woman's Whiskey Maple Brine

Believe it or not, it only took 5 hours to cook Thanksgiving. And the verdict - he was beyond delicious. We will be raising turkeys again. And we may even let them get this big again - we'll just make sure to have more people join us for dinner! We had turkey leftovers for days - four 1-gallon zip lock freezer bags full. Two are still in the freezer. 

We only carved half the turkey for dinner. What we didn't eat we sent home with Vicki and to Cameron's sister, Carrie!

Cameron even got to enjoy a Disneyland-sized turkey leg. Unlike the Disneyland turkey legs, though, this one was so big Cameron wasn't able to finish it!