Bang and Fizzle

Thanksgiving started out with its usual bang, but ended with a bit of a fizzle.  My sister and her family showed up Wednesday afternoon to start the party. Toby and I had spent the day cleaning and getting ready for the crowd. At one point I unearthed some T-Day decorations that belong to my Mom. If I remember correctly,  she used a pumpkin to make this turkey decoration, but I didn't have a pumpkin. I did have an old butternut squash. I thought it worked well, and it made me lol.

Thanksgiving Eve has taken on a life of its own the past several years. We usually buy tamales and have Mexican food. I made a huge pot of white chili, which may be an Okie thang. It is chicken, green chilies, and white beans. I used some green chilies that we bought in NM. When we bought them, we asked for mild chilies. Of course the guy at the roadside stand said they were mild, but he lied! Anyway, my white chili cleared our sinuses.  My brother-in-law made special margaritas. He used fresh squeezed limes. Now, I usually drink wine or beer, but I love a good margarita. I'm not going to say these margaritas were good, but they were powerful - like a bit of lime with your tequila. Things got silly pretty fast, and the party was fun. Jesse had stayed in WF and was planning on coming up Thursday morning and bringing Mom. Although the party was fun, it was not the same without Jesse and some of the other cousins. And I had made way too much white chili.

I woke up really early Thursday thinking of all I had to do to cook for the crowd. I got up, took my shower, drank coffee, and had the turkey cooking by 5:30.  In fact, I was cookin' with gas all day. I've often thought I would make a good cruise director.  My son says I would make a good cruise sergeant. Let's just say I like to direct (different than being bossy) and I like to have fun and I can gett'er done. Today cooking with my sister was lots of fun. My BIL is always a big help in the kitchen. And Toby cooked the turkey to perfection. The whole meal came together smoothly and right on time. The crowd showed up about 10:30 and things picked up speed and volume.

The downside was the rain. It came down steady all day long. We moved the turkey frying to the carport, but it was miserable outside. The kids inside were not happy either. The big dogs were wet and it was difficult to keep them outside, but it was a must.  My nephew brought his husky puppy, Kevin. Kevin was very excited to be out on the farm with other dogs...and chickens. It's a good thing the chickens were in a pen or Kevin would have "played" rough with them. Kevin drove my nephew and the chickens crazy.

After a wonderful meal (if I do say so myself) my brother and nephew decided to leave and take Kevin, the bad dog, home. His wife stayed another hour, but then gathered my other nephews and my mom and went home. Then my sister, who had planned on staying the night, decided that the weather might get bad, so they left too. With everyone going home, my son and his family decided to take the grand-kids home for naps and such. And there we were with enough food to feed an army, but the army all went home early.

Fizzle. So Jesse, Toby, and I sat around watching football and eating pie. I'll figure out what to do with all this food later.

Friday has been more rain. The yard looks like a lake. The internet has been slow. We are slow.