Turkey Day Celebration

Thanksgiving is the beginning of the holidays where everyone puts some weight on for the winter. We have not gotten to celebrate Thanksgiving in a couple of years and usually, I do the cooking. I love planning the meal and doing the grocery shopping not to mention setting up the house for guests.

This year I got to cook and did the baking the day before. I baked two pumpkin pies, two sweet potato pies, some fudge and a chocolate cake. All of this was done the day before after a doctor’s appointment. Thursday morning, I had a hard time getting out of bed and my husband kept waking me up and bothering me until I got up.

With me being drowsy from medication, he helped me into the kitchen and prepared the turkey for roasting. I have tried deep fried turkey and it doesn’t set well with my stomach because of the grease added to the meat, but I do things the traditional way and always will.

We got the bird dressed and placed into the oven and then I remembered everything I had to get done, so I was now awake and going to work. The first thing I had to do was clean the house and set up the food tables. I had two tables which one was for the dinner items and the other was for the desserts.

I had grabbed my list of cleaning and then my list of dishes that I had to make and began doing what I needed to do. I got the house cleaned while the turkey was roasting and then the dishes were prepped for baking—which there were several dishes waiting for the oven.

I began by boiling the sweet potatoes and getting them ready for candied yams. Once they were boiled and beginning to soften, I pulled them off the stove and placed them in a pan with a few slices of butter before smothering them in brown sugar and marshmallows. Then the baked macaroni got started. I boiled my elbow pasta and when ready, I mixed them with butter and then added the cheddar cheese.

Once I had them gooey, I poured it into a pan and smothered it with more cheddar. I love cheesy food. While everything was being prepped and covered with aluminum foil, I began prepping the next dish. Then, I started the dressing which was made of cornbread.

By the time I had the dressing ready for the oven, the eggs were ready to be deviled. I was able to place all three dishes into the oven to bake while making the potato salad and deviled eggs. My husband did manage to keep the trash can emptied for me and helped with the preparation of the food. He basted the turkey and the ham which was smothered in brown sugar and crushed pineapple.

The bird and ham came out looking so pretty and browned. I had a hard time keeping people out of the food before dinner was done. As dishes were being cooked and made, they were placed on the dinner table. The house smelled good and clean and then the aroma of food being cooked filled the house.

Our dinner included the following items: turkey, ham, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, candied yams, baked macaroni and cheese, baked beans, green beans, potato salad, deviled eggs, pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, chocolate cake, peanut butter fudge, and finger foods which included black olives, dill pickle slices, and chips with salsa. There were two folding tables full of food and thankfulness from everyone invited.

We had a very good Thanksgiving and I was happy to do all the cooking. It makes me feel good to feed people, which is another thing I do to help the homeless. I love to go out feeding and speaking with them about their situation since I have a history with homelessness myself.

Well, there you have it. This is how I celebrate Thanksgiving and the food that is made. I hope you enjoyed reading my story of Thanksgiving dinner and I hope you have an awesome day. Take care and be blessed.