My first Thanksgiving dinner.

I haven't ever made Thanksgiving dinner before. I have always been so blessed to be able to just go somewhere and not have to worry about the cooking and the cleaning up the cooking. But, there is always a first for everything, right? When the pre-Thanksgiving ads came out for the grocery stores, I priced everything. Thanksgiving dinner isn't cheap. For just the four of us, and Macie and Noah don't usually eat a whole lot, it would have cost 40 bucks. It was hard to be like okay, forty bucks and I have to actually make the food. It was very tempting to just say we're going out for the big feast! But, our friends, the Barkers, came up from Costa Mesa. For four adults, it made me feel a little bit better! In hopes that I would have the baby, I got all of the shopping done on Monday, and printed our recipes...just in case I wouldn't be able to make the dinner, Adam could. I got a 22 pound turkey. Yeah, it was quite large. But as the deal went, I could have gotten a 12 pound turkey for $7.88, or a 22 pounder for 2 bucks more. 10 more pounds of turkey goodness for 2 bucks? Of course I went with that one! I mean, would I pass up a good deal?

Obviously, the baby didn't come. I jinxed it by buying a cute little Thanksgiving outfit. So, I was the cook of the dinner. I took the easy way out, and bought the rolls and the pumpkin pie...I'm 9 months pregnant, I can do that! But everything else was handmade. Our menu consisted of Butterball turkey, which Anniece did most of. She brought the Oven bag...which from what I can tell is the way to go. You just put the turkey in, tie it up, and let it cook. The clean up was easy, and we didn't have to baste anything. Next time I make a turkey, it'll be that way. And then we had Sweet potato puff {thanks Kimberlee, it's my FAVORITE thing to eat!}, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry cherry jello salad, dixie salad, rolls, stuffing, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. And of course we had Cranberry Sierra Mist. I'm a big fan of the cranberries. Our stuffing even had cranberries in it. It's a seasonal thing, you can't not have them...they are so good.

I'm not a very good hostess when it comes to making big dinners. I usually stress out and think everything is a disaster and end up apologizing for stupid things all throughout dinner, but this dinner was good. Everything went well. The sweet potato puff was puffy {it isn't usually...I usually mess it up}. The turkey was delicious. And everything was good. I think I'll even make another Thanksgiving dinner again sometime! It wasn't as bad as I thought. Thanks, Anniece for your help in the making and the cleaning up! I couldn't have done it without you! And, thank you to Adam for carving the turkey. I'm pretty accident prone and don't have a very good history with knives...I would have ended up in the ER with all my fingers cut off! But it was a very successful dinner! Not my grandma, Myrt's but it sufficed!

Even though Thanksgiving has come and gone, I am still thankful today for what I was grateful for on Thursday! I'm so thankful for my family...my entire family. I wouldn't be the person I am without them. They are truly my joy. I am very thankful for the gospel and the blessings we see from it every day. I am thankful for everything that we have...our house, our car, Adam's job, our income...everything. I'm thankful for trials, they make us stronger. I'm thankful for this new baby that doesn't want to come out...having babies in your home make it so fun and enjoyable! I'm thankful for lots of things...too many to just sit and list, the list would go on and on. But I am thankful for this holiday that we have to reflect on what we are thankful for. It's a good reminder...something that we should just remember each and every day. I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving...now bring on the Christmas season!