Thanksgiving Old and New

Thanksgiving Old and New

I lived on a farm in Iowa as a child.  I played outdoors in the Spring and Summer until the snows came in the fall. Mostly I played on the front porch of our two story farmhouse which sat on a hill overlooking  the rolling hills of Southwestern Iowa.  When the leaves started to fall Tom, our turkey came to play in the front yard.  He was gentle and I liked to pretend he was my mount.  But if I tried to sit down on him, he ran out from under me.  I never understood as a small child that  it was my playmate, Tom that we ate for Thanksgiving  dinner.

This year I made the dinner.  My home in Carlsbad is small especially the kitchen but the weather here is so mild and I have a large back patio so I planned to put my ten guests outside to eat dinner.  I have 2 large outdoor tables for my 10 guests to eat comfortably.  As the time came closer  and rain was predicted, I had to make other plans.  My son, Tim had come from LA and we moved one of the outdoor tables inside.  It barely fit in the lliving room.  Then we started to worry about how to cook the turkey.  We had planned to barbecue it and now we must use the oven.  We had to buy a roaster.  This change also meant other dishes must wait to be baked until the turkey was done.  The first guests arrived and came through the front gate sloshing through the water which had puddled at the entrance.  One saving grace was I had already baked two pies and the other one was brought from guests, son Dave and his wife Anne.  

Pumpkin

Brandy Pecan

It wasn't what I planned at all but it may have been the most fun Thanksgiving ever. I  got out the party glasses and everyone got to pick a nickname to mark their glass.  

Names on the markers were silly names like "Beefcake", "Cookie", "free spirit", etc.  The table at the entrance was a lot of fun and eating inside as we did was so laughable that every I think had a good time.  

Flatware in Turkeys

Pumpkin Bread

Dressing