Julia's first Thanksgiving was a big success! Mom, GG and I got up and began prepping for our 15 lb turkey. Though a lot goes into serving this bountiful meal, it was done easily with the help of 2 pros.
My grandmother is a mother to 6 children, has 16 grandchildren (and probably another 1/2 dozen nieces/nephews) and now 5 great grandchildren, so I think she could have done the entire meal in her sleep (as she recalled she often was up at 3:30 a.m. to prep her family's Thanksgiving meal). But with the help of RaRa and GG, the overall cooking prep time of say 11 hours! went by easily and we enjoyed the day in the kitchen.
It was such a wonderful weekend where our girls got to spend long overdue quality time with their grandparents and Auntie. We sat around for hours, like a close family does, eating Rob's famous (a tradition passed on from my Mom to Rob about 4 years ago) Pumpkin Pie. We also welcomed a new tradition, Timmy's homemade New York cheesecake. It was absolutely scrumptious. So Timmy, as Rob has learned, if you make something good once it is yours to make for the rest of our family holidays!!!! We are looking forward to next Thanksgiving for the delicious cheesecake. Our meal was full of our favorites: Mom's Molasses basted turkey, sage and onion stuffing, Butternut Squash Lasagna (use this link for the wonderful recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/butternut-squash-lasagna-recipe/index.html) Mary's five creamed onions and parmesan swiss chard, Mashed Potatoes, Mashed sweet potatoes, Molasses Gravy, and April's Cranberry relish. Though Great Grandpa Garland was celebrating with family he graciously sent his orange cranberry relish which Rob and I ate up! I loved the bitter sweet taste.
However, we can not forget our midday "snack" of Rob's Drunken Shrimp and April's Apricot Bellini! Wow, we truly had an overindulgent holiday but what was most important were the hours spent cozying up by the new pellet stove and the relaxed conversations that made us laugh and brought some tears to our eyes to0. As I sit here I think about the giggling brought on by PopPop playing peek a boo with Julia or Emma sweetly asking PopPop to be her Prince and have a dance with her. Julia also took so sweetly to RaRa who taught her to give "high 5" and play patty cake. It was a holiday filled of yummy food and precious moments, like Emma running around the kitchen contributing her own spirit by singing and dancing and letting us know each time she was ready to go potty. On that note, we had major progress in the potty training department - Emma is now telling us when she needs to go and staying dry nearly all day. She has also moved on to using the potty for all areas of need! LOL And little Miss Julia has had major steps over the holiday weekend as well. Julia can now get into the sitting position from her belly and wants to walk everywhere. She's very curious and grabs at everything. She's cruising easily along things and let's go of your hand when walking around. She also got her first tooth! (It's on the bottom right side). Very exciting stuff.
I will write more later on the rest of our long weekend adventures (like Black Friday shopping at 4 a.m., Lowell Festival of Lights Parade, and Christmas decorating 101).
xoxoxoxoxo
My grandmother is a mother to 6 children, has 16 grandchildren (and probably another 1/2 dozen nieces/nephews) and now 5 great grandchildren, so I think she could have done the entire meal in her sleep (as she recalled she often was up at 3:30 a.m. to prep her family's Thanksgiving meal). But with the help of RaRa and GG, the overall cooking prep time of say 11 hours! went by easily and we enjoyed the day in the kitchen.
It was such a wonderful weekend where our girls got to spend long overdue quality time with their grandparents and Auntie. We sat around for hours, like a close family does, eating Rob's famous (a tradition passed on from my Mom to Rob about 4 years ago) Pumpkin Pie. We also welcomed a new tradition, Timmy's homemade New York cheesecake. It was absolutely scrumptious. So Timmy, as Rob has learned, if you make something good once it is yours to make for the rest of our family holidays!!!! We are looking forward to next Thanksgiving for the delicious cheesecake. Our meal was full of our favorites: Mom's Molasses basted turkey, sage and onion stuffing, Butternut Squash Lasagna (use this link for the wonderful recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/butternut-squash-lasagna-recipe/index.html) Mary's five creamed onions and parmesan swiss chard, Mashed Potatoes, Mashed sweet potatoes, Molasses Gravy, and April's Cranberry relish. Though Great Grandpa Garland was celebrating with family he graciously sent his orange cranberry relish which Rob and I ate up! I loved the bitter sweet taste.
However, we can not forget our midday "snack" of Rob's Drunken Shrimp and April's Apricot Bellini! Wow, we truly had an overindulgent holiday but what was most important were the hours spent cozying up by the new pellet stove and the relaxed conversations that made us laugh and brought some tears to our eyes to0. As I sit here I think about the giggling brought on by PopPop playing peek a boo with Julia or Emma sweetly asking PopPop to be her Prince and have a dance with her. Julia also took so sweetly to RaRa who taught her to give "high 5" and play patty cake. It was a holiday filled of yummy food and precious moments, like Emma running around the kitchen contributing her own spirit by singing and dancing and letting us know each time she was ready to go potty. On that note, we had major progress in the potty training department - Emma is now telling us when she needs to go and staying dry nearly all day. She has also moved on to using the potty for all areas of need! LOL And little Miss Julia has had major steps over the holiday weekend as well. Julia can now get into the sitting position from her belly and wants to walk everywhere. She's very curious and grabs at everything. She's cruising easily along things and let's go of your hand when walking around. She also got her first tooth! (It's on the bottom right side). Very exciting stuff.
I will write more later on the rest of our long weekend adventures (like Black Friday shopping at 4 a.m., Lowell Festival of Lights Parade, and Christmas decorating 101).
xoxoxoxoxo
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