Thanksgiving 2017

Thanksgiving is literally my favorite holiday. I just love getting together with family and friends, cooking a delicious meal, eating said meal, just hanging out and napping with people. I think even more than Christmas, it is the most relaxing holiday out there!

This year, having already done the “Grady Christmas” several weeks earlier, our plan was to stay put for Thanksgiving. Luckily there are others in the greater Denver metropolitan area that are also too far away to spend the day with family, so they became our extended family for Thanksgiving. On the menu was the traditional Thanksgiving faire, turkey, rolls, potatoes and gravy, stuffing, scalloped corn, pie (lots of pie), macaronni and cheese, gouda roll-ups, bean dip - you know, the traditional stuff! One of the reasons I like hosting so much is because I get to keep the leftovers, so I planned ahead. For the nine people that were at our meal we cooked 28 pounds of turkey!!!

It was a phenomenal day, temperatures in the low 60s. Here, Mireille and I are hanging out on the deck, or the turkey kitchen as it was for the day.

Before I even put any of the turkeys in their respective cooking devices, I was prepping them. For the roaster turkey, I just washed, salted, and peppered it. While I was doing it, Mireille was watching and said, “If the turkey started talking, I would freak out!!!”

While prepping the oilless turkey, a cajun/butter injection along with a salt and pepper rub, Mireille marveled, “the turkey sure is being good for his shots!” I’d say she is adjusting to the nuances of the language and culture quite well.

The meal was wonderful, and even better, everybody was on their way home and the house cleaned up before dark! Which was good, because it is becoming a tradition that we go skiing on Thanksgiving day weekend! Skiing is somewhat dangerous on this weekend. It’s early in the season, and there is typically not a lot of snow. The hill opens only a couple of runs, so that means that those runs are populated by skiiers and snowboarders of all levels, which can get crazy quickly.

That said, the worst day skiing is better than the best day at work! Quinton made some excellent progress. By the end of the first day he was doing as well as he had near the end of last season, and by the end of the second day he had far exceeded his abilities from last year already. It’s going to be a fun season with him!! Mireille got onto skiis on the bunny hill and did pretty well, too. Jenny drew the short straw and stayed with her all day while I skiied with Quinton, but she said she did pretty well, too!

After a “long” day on the slopes, even though we only had about a 15 minute drive, the kids had a hard time staying conscious.

We were also very lucky to score a few days at an acquaintenace’s condo in Frisco, about 10 miles from the hill. It was really nice to be able to spread out, watch TV, and eat there rather than packing into the hotel, which is what we usually have to do.

Thanksgiving has come and gone. We’ve finished the leftovers and hung the skiis back up for the next trip. In a lot of ways, I’m already looking forward to next year’s festivities! Like I said, it’s my favorite!