Turkey Leftovers

Thanksgiving was pretty low-key around these parts. Last year we had about 20 or so of Aaron's family here, but this time, it was just my dad and Grandma Gigi. Mom had to work until 7pm, and thankfully, even though Aaron had to work the whole weekend, he was home by 10am on Thursday.

A quieter holiday does have it's benefits - I felt fairly relaxed the whole weekend, and have had time the last couple of days to get the Christmas decor out. However, I am NOT someone who enjoys cooking just for the heck of it. If I'm actually going to make 3-4 dishes for a meal, I'd prefer there to be more entertaining involved than just 2 other people. As much as I may love those people.

I got off easy, though. Mom made her wonderful dressing and an amazing apple cobbler, and brought it down before heading to work. So basically everything else was just one thing - squash, potatoes, turkey, green beans (no casserole - can't bring myself to eat the stuff). And some gravy that only showed up by contractual obligation. Everything was done at the same time, and at 12:30pm on the dot we were eating. And using my beautiful newly purchased antique dishes! I KNEW I needed them!

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The day before Thanksgiving, friend Tara and her boys helped my gang clean out our pumpkins. They'd been decorating our buffet, but I knew they would be outdated by the Day After Thanksgiving. After gutting them, the seeds were cleaned and soaked in salt water for a day and a half and then roasted to perfection, if I do say so myself. And both the kids like them, which really stinks. That means that I won't get to eat them all myself.

After dinner on Thursday, the kids took turns opening their Thanksgiving presents. Both got a few new books, Leah got a couple puzzles (100 pieces!) and Ben is loving his new animals and dinos.

I realized that my kids are totally going to be messed up - carving pumpkins AND getting presents at Thanksgiving. Their spouses are going to be SOOO confused.

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Thanks to Aaron working the holiday, my self-control was assisted by not being able to get to the stores for Black Friday. I DID check out Old Navy online, but waited. Thankfully. Because hours after contemplating getting Adam some pants that don't make his legs look like sausages, I was in the storage space downstairs pulling out Christmas bins. Then I turned around, and saw an ENTIRE BIN OF BABY CLOTHES. And guess what? They were exactly the size that Adam needs! Now he has a bigger wardrobe than I do, and I'm afraid he won't be able to wear them all before he outgrows them. But at least his circulation isn't being cut off.

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In addition to Mom's cobbler, I also made a pumpkin flan. The recipe came from Martha Stewart's magazine, but is from a cookbook called Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys, and it has the unique distinction of being the first dish I've made that actually ended up looking like the photo. It was a lot like pumpkin pie without the crust -and easier to make, since you don't have to make the crust! I think it would make a wonderful breakfast. Or bedtime snack. Or whatever.