"Thank you, for loving me, my friend"

We finally ate in the dining room again (2 years later)

RKZ's hand
Joya's hand
Jason joins in the picture refusal
A Pirate rests at 40 (with his Cap't Morgan or single malt scotch, I forget)
Turkey shot #1 - the orange is used in place of stuffing in the cavity.
Turkey shot #2 (you can see the stuffing (dark brown section) between the skin and the breast.
Cleo and Thomas the train.
Nobody wanted their picture taken.
What a strange and funny Thanksgiving we had. First, we all were up at 6am again (thank you, Thunder). Buck started the day asking, "Is Clemmie coming over now?" I told him he'd have to wait for about 10 hours. Buck was also excited to hear that CSG (Canadian Safari Guide) would be making a rare appearance at our place around 4pm.

Since the pies were finished the night before, I began T-day morning with a cup of coffee and a review of the meal plan. I have made many of the dishes on their own before, but never once coordinated the entire Thanksgiving dinner. Timing is not my strong suit, but I'm more irritated by the slow working oven in our home. I became jumpy just thinking about our lack of oven space and the way in which the dishes needed to come out.

For the first time in my life, I watched the ENTIRE Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. It was a little touch of American cheese right here in Canada. Buck loved the floats completely focused on his demographic: Buzz Lightyear; Mickey Mouse; Pokemon; Yo! Gabba Gabba...he wasn't too impressed with the bands or the singing, but it did get his excitement up for Toy Story 3. I was thinking that it would be fun to see that parade in person someday. New York City just looked to exciting - and people had the day off, so they were in really good moods.

around noon, I started the turkey - Jamie Oliver style. I would reprint the entire recipe, but my over-riding concern was that I never cooked an entire turkey myself. I was definitely by myself with a wacky new recipe and no accounting for time. I made the stuffing, stuffed it between the skin on the breast and the breast meat itself (this was my wacky new step) and shoved little rolls of bacon, garlic and rosemary into the legs and thighs. All courtesy of Jamie Oliver. Only then did I realize that we had run out of aluminum foil. For a brief second I considered running around the street looking for foil, but everyone was at work on Thursdays in Canada. So, I put the roasting pan lid on and emailed RKZ to bring some home. Looking at my oven at this point, I knew that I'd have no space for sides unless he showed up to save me.

RK left work at noon and got home at 3 (after doing all the shopping I'd emailed throughout the day). Our guests began showing up at 4:30, after a brief visit with a neighbor who brought flowers to wish us a happy American Thanksgiving (so nice)! I have no pictures of their faces because they were treating me like paparazzi (sp?)

I will write about the end of the evening in a bit. We ended up having a great Thanksgiving after all, even if we still really missed family. It's about to snow here and I need to pull some things in the house. :)