Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I know I say this every year that we have lived outside of the US, but I feel I have to say it again.  It's a normal week for the rest of the world and that makes me sad!!! The kids have school and Joe has work all week long.  So it's a little hard to get the buildup of the holiday spirit, but we do the best we can.  I have such vivid memories of the week of Thanksgiving as Mom prepped and cooked and the house looked beautiful and smelled even better.  She would always have the Macy's parade on and Christmas music going in the background...that feeling of family together just makes my whole insides light up...  

So, I blast the Christmas music, even though none of our decor is up yet and it's just Mack and me dancing to the music, and I try to put out of my mind the huge TO DO list for the next few weekends in a row.  It's time to just be grateful.  

Oh and celebrating on Thursday is always out BTW, because no one has time that night, so we celebrate on Friday.  

Let's talk turkey for a second.  These birds are hard to find in Switzerland!  I had to special order mine from a farm in France.  It was a 16 lb turkey and ended up costing well over $100.  Yep!  BUT, I have to say, I don't think I have EVER had a fresher turkey in my life.  The man who delivered it to my door looked like he had just prepped and plucked the bird hours before.  It came covered with pink paper and in an open cardboard box that smelled just like the farm.  The box wreaked!!!  Chicken, turkey, whatever kind of feather farm it is... they just smell so bad.  I struggle.  We always used to have to drive by a chicken farm on the way to the beautiful Berryhill Ranch.  I'd hold my breath and drive as fast as I could down that country road before I would attempt to suck in some fresh oxygen!

 Anyway, thankfully it was cold enough outside to keep the bird and the smelly box fresh until I could do something with it.  Here's me as I was getting ready to do something with it:

 

 Haha!  I opened the paper up and there were still feathers that needed plucking.  Now, to preface this, I have been known to use my dental gloves on occasion in my past, when dealing with raw meat.  I know.  Call me a wimp.  Mom always laughed at me.  But sometimes it just grosses me out.  I've come A LONG WAY since then, but this still was a little rough for me.  I had to take a deep breath and just go for it ;)  

 Along with the rest of the food I was cooking, I couldn't leave out my grandma, Tutu's, Crown Rolls!  Those are a family tradition and favorite.  YUM!!!

 Joe is always a trooper.  He jumps right in and helps me out with the not-so-desirable tasks that could potentially require my gloves. Oh, and he always carves the meat.  And over the years, has done a fabulous job with the presentation!  Momo would be so proud!  I should have taken a picture of it.  Darn!  Well,  the bird was ready, the rest of the food was on the table, now we just needed our guests!  

Oh!  And Super Mack.  His debut was fabulous...I had never seen Super Mack and those stellar moves before, but I loved every second of it!

We invited the Nordstrom and Lucas families for Thanksgiving.  And everyone was in the same boat.  Rushing home from work and school stuff in order to celebrate.  

So our party began around 7:30pm.

 (Just because it never really looks this clean)

We were so happy to celebrate with our friends...who appreciate good food as much as we do!!! The fact that we all wanted to make all of our own favorite Thanksgiving foods so we could all have our own leftovers for the weekend, sounded just perfect to me ;)  Not having our own families around to celebrate, equated to trying to make it feel as much like "at home" as possible, and that meant all of those perfect recipes.  

As we filled our plates with our favorite tastes, I could hear, "Now which gravy is ours?" and "Are these your sweet potatoes, Mom?"  Yes, each of us even made our own special and equally delicious gravy.  So, the fact that we all got to eat our favorite foods AND enjoy one another's company was all the sweeter.  

Someone might have eaten just a little too much.  Heehee.  I don't blame her.  It was the best turkey I have ever tasted.  I guess plucking a few feathers was definitely worth it.  

Happy Thanksgiving from Basel, Switzerland!  

I am sure grateful for this wonderful family of mine!  Love them with all of my heart.