Happy December!

Whoa, how did that happen? Every day I have to remind myself that it isn't August anymore. I feel like life has been on fast forward for the past few weeks! I'm pressed for time, so I'm just going to post some random photos that I took over Thanksgiving weekend...



On Wednesday, we celebrated at our business. Every year we have a party to thank the wonderful people that work there. Dad and I cooked 6 turkeys, 20 pounds of potatoes, gigantic pans of cornbread dressing, green bean casserole, and sweet potatoes, a gallon of gravy, and 8 pies!

Over the years, we've perfected our methods. We cook and freeze the turkeys and pies several days ahead. Dad makes mashed potatoes (with help from the kids) and I make several batches of gravy and cornbread the day before. On Wednesday morning, all I have to do is bake the dressing and heat up the green bean casserole and sweet potatoes. Dad thaws the turkey in an electric oven and pours broth over it to keep it moist.

I was so busy chatting and eating during the party, I didn't take a single picture! So here are some photos of the prep. Step one: pumpkin pie factory. This year I baked at a friend's house because she has two ovens. Besides, it's more fun to bake with a buddy!



Got some great help from a very cute assistant.



Step two: cornbread. I LOVE my giant iron skillet! This was one of 3 batches of cornbread I made for the dressing.



My kids went "veggie" last February, and this was my first attempt at making dressing without chicken broth or fat. A good, buttery batch of cornbread and milk thinned with vegetable broth did the trick. Not one person at the party noticed the difference.



This is what twenty pounds of potatoes look like peeled, cooked, and mashed. They had almost a pound of butter in them and they were sooooo good!



This was our first year to celebrate with friends on Thursday instead of traveling to see family. We had so much fun! We ate another great meal, the kids played together, and we shared some silly family stories. Late in the evening, we played the rowdiest game of chicken foot I have ever seen! Don't check my math--wine was involved!



We traced our handprints and wrote something we were thankful for...





Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!