Several truly interesting things happened this holiday. I’m not sure how to accurately depict them without running several pages over, and it is way past my bedtime, but since I’ve started….
Really, the story of Thanksgiving happened earlier in that week, around Monday. That was Jacob’s special Thanksgiving Program at his school, and it was about what you’d expect from a group of two-year olds. They sang three songs, including the ever inspiring “Hello Mr. Turkey,” which really needs to be covered by some pop star. The lyrics are, approximately:
Oh hello, Mr. Turkey, how are you? (STOMP STOMP)
Oh hello, Mr. Turkey, how are you? (STOMP STOMP)
With a Gobble Gobble Gobble,
And a Waddle Waddle Waddle,
Oh hello, Mr. Turkey, how are you? (STOMP STOMP)
I get the song, except for the gratuitous stomps. Do we always greet turkeys by stomping the ground, or is that reserved for traveling salesmen? Anyway, I digress a bit.
Jacob completed the program and then was whisked off for 3 days of play at his grandparents’ house. My dad has an Ozarka water cooler bottle full of coins, and the first thing Jacob likes to do is dump them out and proceed to push them around like dirt with toy bulldozers. My dad had a Sacajawea dollar in the mix, and Jacob found it and said something approximating, “This is different.” My dad replied that it was a dollar coin. “No, dollar bill.”
Wednesday, we parted ways with RedTruck. The Ford Explorer, bought because I wanted an SUV-type vehicle, finally came to the end of the road. We acquired Homer the Blue Whale, a 2003 Honda Odyssey.
I had a grand plan to cook a turkey and lots of food for Thanksgiving. Laureen’s parents were driving up from San Antonio and returning the same day, so that meant cooking the turkey early Thursday morning. So, on Tuesday, I go get the turkey. Then Laureen reads the thawing directions: “four days in the refrigerator”. Sigh. Okay, I’ve watched Good Eats. I bought a five gallon cooler for the express purpose of turkification, so I put it to use thawing out said turkey. After an eight hour bath, we declared it thawed, or at least thawed enough. Replace the cold water with a brine, and away we go for six hours in the brine. This was the tough part, since it required waking up in the middle of the night, which is something that Laureen and I don’t particularly do well, except in the case of feeding Jessie. We at least pulled the bag with the neck and stuff out of the cavity. That was a positive move.
When we finally woke up Thanksgiving morning, we realized we didn’t have a roasting pan. Sigh. However, we did have the roaster that my parents got us last Christmas that we’d never used. Hey, it’s an extra oven! Yay! Laureen found it, and then read the directions. Since it’d never been used, it required an hour’s “smoke out” time. Sigh. By now, it was 11:45, and Oma and Opa were arriving around 1. Dinner would be 3 p.m., and that’s about the time that they needed to start BACK down the road.
12:45, I put the turkey in for the 30 minutes of blazing high heat. Laureen’s folks arrive. They play with Jessie and watch Jacob. Laureen makes a command decision to not wait on the turkey (and the sides that I hadn’t even started making, except for a delicious Saffron Aioli to go with the roasted sweet potatoes), and making the sides would require two ovens at different temperatures, thus creating a logistical nightmare in the kitchen with one oven and another roaster (currently holding a 13.83 pound mostly-thawed, mostly-brined Mr. Gobble Gobble Gobble). We get to the “low and slow” portion of cooking the turkey, so it goes back down to 350 degrees with the turkey triangle slapped on (yes, you put a double layer of aluminum foil over the breast of the turkey to prevent it from overcooking), and we locate our Thanksgiving dinner at Golden Corral.
I am thankful for places like Golden Corral, because it’s easy to feed Jacob there. They have olives, salad, pickles, tomatoes, ham, and all sorts of other things he likes to eat. I am very thankful that Laureen’s parents were able to eat with us and also enjoy the kids. Jessie was on her best behavior, and the whole trip was only marred by Jacob being overtired and tripping over the doorway on the way out. He’s a boy. Falls, spills, and scrapes happen.
We got back home, and by this time, the turkey was done. Out it comes, onto a cutting board for a rest. We sit and talk for a while; Laureen gets the pecan pie out and serves it, and then Jessie gets her first solids, fed by both Laureen and Oma. A very special treat indeed. Oma and Opa head back down to San Antonio, and we try to find ways to keep Jacob awake until bedtime. Time for Lightning McQueen and popcorn upstairs.
Friday, my folks came over. Jessie had pictures, since it was her six months’ birthday. Pictures turned out well, except for the having to wait forever and a day because of the staff Sears had, only the photographer showed any sort of competence. Dad played with Jacob and tried to get him to sleep. I went shopping with my Mom. It wasn’t as bad an experience as I’d imagined. Then again, I didn’t try to get there at 5 a.m. We had turkey sandwiches, at which point Laureen discovers that we didn’t remove the giblets from the neck cavity. Again. We’re two for two on those things. The turkey tasted pretty good, though.
Saturday was my primary day with Jacob. We woke up, went to Little Gym, went to Half-Price Books, went to Mardel (where they have a Thomas Train Table), dragged him out of Mardel, went to Babies-backwards-R-Us, and finally back to Little Gym for a birthday party. Needless to say, His Highness was tuckered out after all of the travel. Home for a nap, then back down to the kitchen to cook the Thanksgiving meal, only a few days late: Turkey, Mashed Potatoes with Roasted Garlic, Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Saffron Aioli, Green Beans with Shallots, and an Apple Sage Sausage stuffing. We all eat together, and for that, I am most thankful.
Sunday: church, playground, get food, another playground, home, nap, string up lights, eat dinner, popcorn and Cars, then work on Jessie’s calendar. We hadn’t done anything in there, and it’s hard to recall six month’s worth of grins, smiles, toes grabbed, spit ups, etc. We’ll be recalling that for a while.
So, what am I thankful for?
My family, especially my wife and kids. I thank God for their presence in my life every day.
My health.
My job.
The chance to write about stuff like this.
I’ll get the new pics up soon. I promise.