Family FEAST!

Thanksgiving is the American holiday where we remember our founding colonists who gathered together at a harvest feast with their Indian neighbors in 1621.  We give thanks for our freedom, our families and friends by gathering together for a big feast.  :-)  I'm in! 

OK.. now to back up a bit and give you more details.. :-)  Dayle is our turkey and dressing guy.  My job is to taste it.  We're a good team. :-)  Our dressing is just like our moms used to make.  We use bread cubes, saute chopped celery, onions and parsley in butter, then pour that over the bread cubes, add chicken stock, sage, salt and pepper and mix together.  He stuffs the turkey with what will fit in there and then puts the rest in a baking dish.

Here is our 24 lb. turkey ready to go into the oven, he puts butter, fresh rosemary and sage from our herb garden under the skin on the breast.  He put the giblets in the baking pan too, along with a quart of chicken broth. He puts a tent of foil over the bird so it steams it and holds the moisture in.. removing it 3/4s of the way through to brown the bird.

The kids arrived around 3 pm, dinner was set for 4:30.  I had my 4 adorable grandsons pose for a photo.. aren't they cute?  Hayden had a new jacket on, he looked so dapper! 

You should have smelled the house!!  Here is the turkey when it came out of the oven. 

My sweetie and I.  

I make all the sides.. here is the corn casserole.  It's an old fashioned recipe, using corn, sour cream, butter, Jiffy cornbread and milk, with chilis.   

Green bean casserole, with French fried onions and cream of mushroom soup.  And candied yams!  I make them from scratch, using fresh yams, I peel and cube them and boil them until soft, then put them in a pan, put a cube of butter cut up in little pieces over the top, sprinkle some brown sugar over, then break up whole pecans over, sprinkle cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice, then put miniature marshmallows over that, then bake until it's browned.  Everyone loves these! 

I found an easy recipe for homemade cranberry sauce - you use 1 lb of fresh cranberries, 1 cup of water, 1 cup of sugar, 4 tsp Cornstarch, bring those to a boil to dissolve the sugar, then add cranberries and simmer until cranberries pop, then add 1 cup of orange marmalade.  We did add some fresh orange peel grated in, also.

Have you noticed that I brought into service all my Jadeite bowls?  :-)  Here is one of the two bowls of mashed potatoes on the table.  I peeled 5 lbs of Russet potatoes, quartered them and boiled them until done, then I have to whip them in 3 batches in the Kitchenaid mixer - I add milk until they are fluffy (never put too much milk in or you'll have soupy mashed potatoes) - and I add 1/2 a cube of butter while beating.  Put in bowl, add a pat of butter on top and sprinkle with paprika.  That is how my MOM did it. :-)

When Dayle removed the turkey from the pan and cut up the giblets, I mixed flour and water and poured it in the pan, along with a quart of chicken stock, and stirred up the gravy.  Salt and pepper to taste. 

I bet you're wondering what is going on here?  WELL.. Hayden had started to crawl under the table, just when I wanted a photo.. so my son Travis and his wife Kristi pulled him back up and sat him down.  LOL!

And here is said photo.. :-) 

And our older son Shawn, his wife Beth, and Michael and Gabriel.  We're all enjoying the dinner immensely.  Michael said to me.. "Grandma, I look forward all year to coming here for this dinner!"  Awwwww... 

After dinner we all sat around and visited and the boys played and had fun.  When it was time to go, I snapped this photo of Caleb with his tiger hat and mittens.. cute thing.

I want to leave you with a poem I wrote to read to my family around the table years ago, my whole family was here, sisters, brothers, their kids and our parents (23 of us) and we were to dine for the first time on this great table that I'd rescued from my paternal grandparents farmhouse in Oklahoma, where it sat in the old chicken house for years and years.  We brought it home to Oregon and had it restored.  I read this before we dined.  Quite a memory for me.

The Heart of Autumn

Memories -- they roll through my mind.
All the years of Thanksgiving celebrations.
I remember them, with family & friends,
Different places, different faces.

Now, our home is where we gather.
It is because it is so right here.
The big old farmhouse, the barn,
The big oak tree obliges with leaves of red.

The family arrives, Dad brings ice cream.
Mom brings the pies fresh from her oven.
Robert, my only brother, brings his
Family from afar. Thank you brother.

As I open the door to our farmhouse
Welcoming Sister Roberta and her clan.
We all walk into the warm, steamy fragrant room.
Drinking in the smell of roasting turkey and sage.

Baby sister Denise brings her young ones,
What would the day be without them?
Thanksgiving day, we have always come together
The family draws tight as if by an unseen magnet.

The table is set with my finest china,
Napkins are folded like sculptures.
Goblets await cider, candles are alight.
The preparations reach a crescendo.....

Then, Dayle pulls his perfect creation,
The biggest turkey he could find,
From the oven, and the room quiets.
We all gather around, and glory in the scene...

A family, full of love and cheer.
This is the true America, our pilgrim
Ancestors would be proud, of what
Their brave adventure has wrought.

And we are filled with thanks.

Copyright 1995 by Teresa Kasner

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Thanks for visiting today, and again, I count you all as one of my blessings.  Let the holidays begin!  Now I start decorating for Christmas!!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)