1. Did you go elsewhere for the day, or did you have visitors at your place instead? How was it?
We stayed at our house, accompanied by my mother-in-law, who lives down the street, and my sister-in-law, who drove in Thursday morning from the metropolis five hours north of us. The Scientist went and picked up our friend Betty Jo, who has lived alone since her good friend Millie died in May. The day was quiet and relaxing (well, I relaxed once everything was on the table) and we all enjoyed it.
2. Main course: If it was the turkey, the whole turkey, and nothing but the turkey, was it prepared in an unusual way? Or did you throw tradition to the winds and do something different?
The only thing that was unusual about our bird is that I got it through the co-op this year, so it was supposedly free-range, all-natural, etc. I was a bit nervous about cooking a turkey without one of those pop-up things that lets you know when it's done, but it turned out fine. We couldn't really tell a difference in flavor between this and a supermarket turkey, but we felt virtuous anyway. ;) We also had ham because my SIL is not a turkey fan.
3. Other than the meal, do you have any Thanksgiving customs that you observe every year?
Not really. We're not big football watchers--and in any event, THE GAME (UT vs. Texas A&M) is played the day after Thanksgiving. (Breaking news: the Aggies just gigged t.u., 38-30.) We usually just spend the day cooking, eating, cleaning up, and visiting. And we always use the good china, silver, and crystal, which I love to do.
4. The day after Thanksgiving is considered a major Christmas shopping day by most US retailers. Do you go out bargain hunting and shop ‘till you drop, or do you stay indoors with the blinds closed? Or something in between?
I never shop on the day after Thanksgiving! Early in the morning I lie in my warm bed with my eyes still closed, thinking about all of those poor souls shivering in the cold outside Best Buy or someplace, waiting for the doors to open so they can fight over the last Wii. Unh-uh.
This year we are engaging in a truly heartwarming exercise in family togetherness: rebuilding my MIL's fence. I spent most of today pulling nails out of rotten slats while my husband and SIL were re-digging post holes and setting new posts in concrete. We finally took a break for the traditional post-Thanksgiving leftovers feast around 3:00. We'll put up the new slats tomorrow. Sound like fun? Oh, and the Scientist and his sister are building a new gate too. I plan to supervise and offer sage advice.
5. Let the HOLIDAY SEASON commence! When will your Christmas decorations go up?
We usually manage to hold out until around Advent 2. But we both love Christmas, and look forward to bringing in the tree and getting the house decorated by mid-December at the latest.
6 comments:
Building a fence??? I'm impressed. I bet the leftovers were especially delicious after all that work!
How good of you to build the fence for MIL! It must have been cold outside up north.
Seeing if the turkey is read--for the first time ever, husband CB thought of the meat thermometer! The turkey had a pop-up that never popped. According to the internet, the internal turkey temperature needs to be 165 degrees, so we used that as our sign of doneness. I think it's a more foolproof way.
And gig 'em Aggies!
I like to use the nice stuff on special days too. :-) This year, being at bachelor son's house, there was no fancy stuff in evidence. The gravy was served out of a measuring cup, the potatoes were served out of the pan, and the store bought jug of apple juice sat on the table. The food was yummy though. ;-)
I'm so impressed by your fence building! That is very cool.
Don't know how you can stand to wait for decorations!
One of the interesting things about buying a "real" turkey is that the shapes are all different. Our turkey this year was very oblong -- definitely not a "butterball" profile. But it was sure tasty.
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