Thursday, 24 November, Houston, TX

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

We have so much to be Thankful for.  Our health, our family, our friends.  We wish you and yours a happy gathering and a healthy Feast.

Rob and Gene were going golfing early this morning.  He kissed me good bye while I was still in bed and I realized I was actually awake already so I decided to get up.  I was surprised to see that Gene and Rob were still here.  Rob was eating cereal and Gene was getting his coffee today.

I went to take Bella out to go potty and when I opened the door I set the alarm off.  Ugh! Gene had to quickly come and turn it off.

Bella did her business and then we came back in.  Rob and Gene left almost immediately.  

I grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down to get caught up on the blog.  I was on my second cup when Maddie came down.  We pretty much got busy in the kitchen right away.  We partially cooked the stuffing.  We finished cooking the pie.  When Maddie cut the slots in the crust they closed back up and there wasn't anyplace for the juice to evaporate to.  The bottom looked kind of soggy.  so, we opened the slots and cooked it for about 20 more minutes.

I made pureed carrots and parsnips with butter, salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Yum Yum.  Maddie made the creamed onions and got them all ready to cook.

We stuffed the bird (which had been brined throughout the night) with onions and apples, trussed it up and stuck it in the oven.

Maddie went up stairs to shower and rest. I continued to work on the blog and basted the turkey as needed.

Rob and Gene came home.  Rob took a nap and Gene went up to make a call to Spain.

We all got ready for company.  Gene and Maddie's friends Wolfgang and his lovely wife came over.  The four of them are all connecting in Germany and they needed to discuss plans.

At 5 we all went over to Laura and John's for the Feast.  All three kids were there; Madeline who is attending her first semester at Ole Miss, Chandler who is a High School Senior, and Finnley who is a High School Freshman and quite the golfer.

Additionally, John's parents were there.  It was lovely

John and Laura

Maddie, Gene, (cannot remember her name, but she was lovely) & Wolfgang

Finnley and Maddie

Gene, Betty (John's Mom), Cat & Madeline

Chandler and Laura

Boys the quality of these pictures are terrible.  I apologize.

We had a lovely evening.  We all said our good byes and headed back to Gene and Maddie's.

We put things away, then Rob made us Turkey sandwiches for our travels back to CA tomorrow.  Maddie is so cute.  She put them in paper bags with our names on them and added an apple to each.

We said our good nights and sad good byes and headed off to bed. We have to leave the house at 6:45 in the morning.