thankful

After we got back from the Cold Turkey race and Maggie McGee's, we had absolutely no commitments for the rest of the day, just a shower (for me), some football and making dinner together.  During our time together on the east coast, Thanksgiving had mostly involved H's parents coming up to our house for the long weekend, and the four of us going up the coast to my parents' house for Thanksgiving dinner.  My folks like a big partay on T'giving, often including 20+ people (family, friends, random strays), 3+ dogs of varying sizes, two turkeys, over three dozen raw oysters, a minimum of eight pies and countless bottles of beer and wine.  This year, since it was just H and me (and Becky), things were much more low key.

However, there was some stress involved since we would be doing all of the cooking this year, instead of just being responsible for a green vegetable, cranberry-orange relish and half a case of beer.  H and I are not gourmet cooks by any stretch of the imagination, although I'm getting fairly proficient on the grill and he is quite good at breakfasts; since Thanksgiving recipes are never all that technical, we figured that the timing of everything - especially since we have very limited kitchenware here in the apartment - would be the challenge.

We did all right, I have to say!  We had a teeny turkey breast (that made it through Friday's lunch and dinner even), smashed red potatoes, my Grandma Bee's stuffing recipe (which I rendered nearly inedible by the application of WAY too much sage), acorn squash and broccoli, plus pumpkin pie that I had made earlier in the week.  With the exception of the overly pungent stuffing and, yes, a slight timing issue (dang turkey breast took longer than we planned for), we called it a succsss, toasting our first Utah Thanksgiving with full glasses and full hearts.

We're so thankful that we're here, trying new things and meeting (a few) new people, and we're thankful for all of our family and friends back East for supporting us and encouraging us.  And now that Thanksgiving is over, what we'd really be thankful for is some snow in the mountains!

P.S. - Almost forgot the most momentousness of the day: due to her enthralled attention to all the frenetic kitchen activity (not to mention random snacks of celery), Becky - for the first time in her life - forgot to remind us about her dinner!  We finally remembered a couple hours later, and she appreciated it when we did, but I think she would have gone all night without it if we hadn't remembered.