Thanksgiving

We are finishing out the Thanksgiving weekend here at the Breiding house.  It is Sunday afternoon.  Everyone in the house is napping, and I am sitting on the couch, by the fire, trying to stay warm and get birthday stuff ready (Yes, I know it is over a month away, but it will be here before you know it).

We had two Thanksgivings this year.  Last Sunday, our friends from Houston came to visit.  They have a little boy who is the same age as Maxwell, so the kids were super excited about it. In fact, when they left, they both wanted to know if he could come live with us and be their brother. For that dinner, I went all out.  I got up at 5 a.m., stuffed the turkey and got it in the oven.   I made everything from scratch, including the cream of mushroom soup in the green bean casserole, and the dough for the crescent rolls.  And, I made pumpkin ice cream tartlets for dessert.  It was big and delicious.  So, we started eating turkey every day last Sunday.

Then, Thanksgiving got here.  Well, you can't skip the day without having a celebratory meal, so, my husband smoked a turkey.  I made an asparagus casserole, and we ate the Stuffing-flavored potato chips our friends left behind.

So, it's been a week, and I've made turkey empanadas, turkey salad, turkey casserole, turkey nachos, turkey melts, turkey sandwiches ... you name it, I've made it with turkey.  And, I still have at least a quarter of a turkey left.

But, I'm not complaining.  It is just pushing my creativity up another notch.

I am thankful that my husband has a job that allows me to stay home and come up with creative new ways to use turkey after thanksgiving.  I am thankful that my kids eat more than just the bread on thanksgiving day and every day.  I am thankful that when I made turkey casserole, both of my children told me how delicious it was.  I am thankful that my house is part-way decorated for Christmas.  I am thankful that my Christmas shopping is almost done.  I am thankful that my wonderful husband makes me warm fires and hot tea to keep me warm on these cold Texas days. I am thankful that, even though I wake up every day feeling terrible and I don't want to get out of bed, I do get out of bed and have two wonderful children to push me through each day.  I am thankful for so many things, but mostly I'm thankful for have Jeremy, Jade, and Maxwell.  They are my reasons for everything.

Happy Thanksgiving!