Stuffed

We have finished dinner, which was served around 1:40. It's always later than I expected but no one was too impatient. We finished watching the parade and only the adults were excited about Santa. I think the kids were worn out from running around playing "5-4-3-2-1 surprise" and couldn't muster much enthusiasm. That, and we haven't made such a big deal out of the big guy in the red suit yet.

Before we ate, Sis distributed our little folded index placecards; she was very exacting in where she put people and insistent that we stuck with it. And her arrangement did work--one kid and one grandparent on each side (of our foldout table that can accomodate the whole crew, but not the food, which was served buffet style). Then, we all traced our handprints on my new white cotton tablecloth purchased expressly for this purpose. We wrote our names, the dates, Goo made his hand a turkey. The fabric markers make the cloth colorful and, if need be, I can stitch the outlines later when the markers begin to fade. We hope to decorate our tablecloth in some way for every holiday. Gommie and Pop, start thinking of what you'll add.

Also new to our holiday table was a set of red transferware (I think) with a realistic engraving of a turkey in the wild and floral borders, a thoughtful gift from Ma and Gong (along with an entire box of delicious Yellow Label Tea). So, at least, there was turkey on my plate. Sis was insistent that her turkey face her; even when she would eat off the other edge of the plate, she wouldn't let us turn it around.

We said what we were thankful for (the usual suspects: Shirt, cats, family) and dug in. Bud loved the marshmallows on the yams and the cooked cranberry sauce. Sis inhaled rice and gravy and some sweet potatoes (yes, pardon me, I use those interchangably). None of the mashed potatoes and turkey that she had said she loved so much. Oh, well. No one will get rich predicting the eating habits of a preschooler. Later we unmolded the strawberry jello salad, if only to distract Bud from the marshmallows, and not only did it look beautiful out of my Tupperware mold (do I get a discount for a plug, Mama Teacher??) but everyone was pleasantly surprised at the jello-sour cream combo. Sis is holding out for pumpkin pie. I liked the fresh cranberry relish, the mashed potatoes, and the green bean casserole. And of course the sweet potatoes. The cooked relish was a little bitter, I think because of the addition of a friend's marmalade (which grew bitter with more cooking; next time I'll stir it in at the end). The gravy was a little too thin, but tasty, and we have 8 cups of it! I doubled my usual recipe. It was good on the potatoes and dressing. I never missed the turkey. Oh, and I was the only one who ate a roll. Who eats Thanksgiving without rolls? We finished the meal with a rendition of our "family song."

Now, Goo is asleep on the couch. Ma and Gong took the kiddos outside for a walk and now they are inside doing a puzzle, at our request. I cleaned all the plates, cups, and dishes while Mama transferred leftovers and is now tackling the pots and pans. Only hitch was the spilling of an entire pitcher of iced tea, so now I have no dry kitchen towels left. We'll do a laundry load, with the new tablecloth which withstood dinner pretty well.

Dessert will happen eventually. I have to whip cream and Goo has offered to help poach the pears.

Oh, I missed something in my last post: Goo taught us a potato trick. Cut a ring around the middle of an unpeeled potato, boil it whole, and then when it's done the skin will pull right off. I missed the procedure but saw the result. If you can handle the heat, it does work well and quickly.