We are thankful for many things this year. The first being our new baby girl who brightens our world. We are also thankful for our health. Four high risk pregnancies and four healthy babies. Whew. How truly thankful we are for that! We are so truly thankful for our families who support us in our lives and keep us centered in a life of togetherness and faith. We are thankful for our friends keep us laughing and busy. We are thankful for the gift of life and thank God today for the many blessings he has given our very thankful family!
We offered to host Thanksgiving this year and were thrilled to be taken up on our offer! Although stressful at times, I do love to throw a big party. Of course this year, the
crazy factor was trying to throw a good party while taking care of three big kids and a five month old. But what the heck! You gotta push the limits sometimes to get what you want. Damien's family is huge. Twenty-eight people just with parents, siblings, spouses, and children. On top of that, we were happy to be able to host Marlene's (Damien's Mom) sister, husband and their children and grandchildren. That brought our 'little thankful group' up to a whopping thirty-five. Sprinkle a last minute add-on of one of Damien's second cousins, his wife and their three month old baby and that brought us up to thirty-eight!
At first, we thought it was going to be logistically complicated to have that many people- but after renting a few tables and thirty-eight chairs, we all nuzzled into the living room quite comfortably. We wanted people to feel happy, comfortable, and at ease and I think we accomplished that. In order to plan this even successfully, I had a lot of things that I wanted to be completed before Thanksgiving actually arrived. One of those was getting the tables completely set with plates, silverware, and glasses the day before the event. I also did as much food prep as I possibly could the day before so that I was stressed as little as possible on Thanksgiving. (A big tip from my Mom.)
Luckily, I had a lot of people offering to help with the food. The problem was that aside from my sister-in-law (who cooked a turkey for the party)- everyone else lives about two hours away and prepared dishes don't hold that well for that long. I cooked a 23 lbs. turkey along with Jocelyn and Damien's mom brought down two cooked turkey breasts. Heather brought over all the ingredients for the sweet potatoes, Marlene also brought an array of desserts and rolls for dinner, Lani brought four delicious pumpkin pies and
Hellie's (Damien's grandma) famous cranberry relish, and the rest was prepared here! We always have too much food but I always think it is better to have too much than to stress because you have too little. And let's be frank here. Who doesn't like Thanksgiving leftovers????
It was a great party. Everyone seemed very comfortable and the vibe was just really good. Getting enough food cooked my my kitchen to feed a good thirty-five people was a challenge but I think we
achieved our goal. The turkeys were a piece of cake. It was the mashed potatoes, stuffing, peas, gravy, and sweet potatoes that were a challenge because they all required a lot of manual labor and it was hard to figure out how to keep them all hot and time it correctly. I have five burners on my stove and they were all being used but think about how long it would take to boil potatoes, then mash them, and then boil three stock pots of water again in order to prep the stuffing and peas. I didn't think about how long it takes to boil huge pots of water. But I think we did the best we could and no one complained. All in all it was a wonderful night and I don't regret a thing. We flip flop years for Thanksgiving so I am looking forward to next year when I can help my Mom in the kitchen rather than have to be the one in charge. Then I hope we get to host again the year after that when my life will be a little bit more sane and I will forget about the absolute craziness that went into planning this years festivities! Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I am so very thankful for each and every one of you.
We are thankful for many things this year. The first being our new baby girl who brightens our world. We are also thankful for our health. Four high risk pregnancies and four healthy babies. Whew. How truly thankful we are for that! We are so truly thankful for our families who support us in our lives and keep us centered in a life of togetherness and faith. We are thankful for our friends keep us laughing and busy. We are thankful for the gift of life and thank God today for the many blessings he has given our very thankful family!
We offered to host Thanksgiving this year and were thrilled to be taken up on our offer! Although stressful at times, I do love to throw a big party. Of course this year, the crazy factor was trying to throw a good party while taking care of three big kids and a five month old. But what the heck! You gotta push the limits sometimes to get what you want. Damien's family is huge. Twenty-eight people just with parents, siblings, spouses, and children. On top of that, we were happy to be able to host Marlene's (Damien's Mom) sister, husband and their children and grandchildren. That brought our 'little thankful group' up to a whopping thirty-five. Sprinkle a last minute add-on of one of Damien's second cousins, his wife and their three month old baby and that brought us up to thirty-eight!
At first, we thought it was going to be logistically complicated to have that many people- but after renting a few tables and thirty-eight chairs, we all nuzzled into the living room quite comfortably. We wanted people to feel happy, comfortable, and at ease and I think we accomplished that. In order to plan this even successfully, I had a lot of things that I wanted to be completed before Thanksgiving actually arrived. One of those was getting the tables completely set with plates, silverware, and glasses the day before the event. I also did as much food prep as I possibly could the day before so that I was stressed as little as possible on Thanksgiving. (A big tip from my Mom.)
Luckily, I had a lot of people offering to help with the food. The problem was that aside from my sister-in-law (who cooked a turkey for the party)- everyone else lives about two hours away and prepared dishes don't hold that well for that long. I cooked a 23 lbs. turkey along with Jocelyn and Damien's mom brought down two cooked turkey breasts. Heather brought over all the ingredients for the sweet potatoes, Marlene also brought an array of desserts and rolls for dinner, Lani brought four delicious pumpkin pies and Hellie's (Damien's grandma) famous cranberry relish, and the rest was prepared here! We always have too much food but I always think it is better to have too much than to stress because you have too little. And let's be frank here. Who doesn't like Thanksgiving leftovers????
It was a great party. Everyone seemed very comfortable and the vibe was just really good. Getting enough food cooked my my kitchen to feed a good thirty-five people was a challenge but I think we achieved our goal. The turkeys were a piece of cake. It was the mashed potatoes, stuffing, peas, gravy, and sweet potatoes that were a challenge because they all required a lot of manual labor and it was hard to figure out how to keep them all hot and time it correctly. I have five burners on my stove and they were all being used but think about how long it would take to boil potatoes, then mash them, and then boil three stock pots of water again in order to prep the stuffing and peas. I didn't think about how long it takes to boil huge pots of water. But I think we did the best we could and no one complained. All in all it was a wonderful night and I don't regret a thing. We flip flop years for Thanksgiving so I am looking forward to next year when I can help my Mom in the kitchen rather than have to be the one in charge. Then I hope we get to host again the year after that when my life will be a little bit more sane and I will forget about the absolute craziness that went into planning this years festivities! Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I am so very thankful for each and every one of you.
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