Thanksgiving 2012

Rohan's Roast Beast

Nathan and Uncle Rohan pose for their annual
'barbecue guys'
photo 

When we were at Maltese ordering the turkey for our dinner I insisted we needed the biggest bird we could fit on the barbecue plus a whole breast. Why I over estimate how much meat we need every time, I don't know...maybe it's something to do with how beautiful that big, fat bird looks up there. MMmmm
Well, we had more than enough turkey - and ham, and our standard ten pounds of mashed potatoes. What we didn't get enough of was photos. It's difficult to capture everything as it happens with so much going on - three kids, three dogs, four extra people. It was perfect family holiday chaos.

Putting the kids to work cutting out all the leaves for the pies was the best idea I had all day. This freed me up to have a rather large glass of wine and "supervise" - not kidding, I just stood there in the middle of the kitchen, in the middle of the day, on Thanksgiving, and did nothing. Marike was peeling potatoes, the kids were [relatively] quiet, concentrating on leaf cutting, and I drank wine. Not a bad day at all. GRIN (this might be why we don't have a lot of photos)
In all, the kids decorated three pies, and I can tell you they were thoroughly enjoyed with fresh whipped cream, and again for breakfast the next day.

Our place tags were handcrafted by Nathan Wilson.

At the time we bought the table that seats ten comfortably, twelve if you don't mind being cozy, we thought aha, we have the greatest table ever.
As it turns out, it's not the greatest table ever - I mean, it's great and all, but every time we've had to add the leaf, we've also had to add another table. Of course, if we had a bigger table, it wouldn't fit in the room(s)...because apparently people who designed houses in 1908 didn't consider what Amy & Rohan's  barbecued turkey dinners would require for space.
We make it fit. It's always great, loud, fun, delicious. Everybody seems to enjoy themselves... especially William, who thinks buckles on chairs is just the craziest thing ever, and so, so funny.
I'm glad I wasn't sitting down at the kids end of the table (not a "kids table" as H thinks such things are just offensive now, rightfully so). I know there was some brussels sprouts dissin' down at that end, and later some competitions involving whipped cream - more than enough to give H the sibling experience and some great memories.

It was hard not to think of Helen, and miss her company at the dinner table. I am thankful for many, many things - we all are, but being thankful for all the dinners with her didn't quite make up for her absence. That sounds terrible but it's true. She's missed - especially at dinners like this.

What we are all more than thankful for is having our family all together - something we didn't expect earlier this year. That's more than enough.

 ~Thanksgiving 2012 ~