Canadian Thanksgiving 2011

This year Thanksgiving was fantastic. I really wanted to learn how to make a whole Thanksgiving dinner because next time I'm not gonna be in Canada to have my mom to make it all for me. I need to be a grown up and make dinner for my own family now. Next month will be American Thanksgiving and I'll be in Colorado for good by then! How convenient that I get to have a practice run before I have to do it alone! It was a really good experience to prepare dinner with my mom though. We had some great quality time together. She really enjoyed the help and I really enjoyed the conversation. My mom is the best.

Preparations started last night. We made apple pie and pumpkin pie (including the crust), stuffing/dressing (whatever you call it), and cranberry sauce. This morning we put the 16ish pound turkey in the oven, and had some down time. Mom made buns (rolls for you Americans). I figured that since I'll be in a city that's 5000 ft higher than here, practice making buns would be pointless. The altitude does stupid things to my cookies, let alone bread...  That's something I'll have to work up to in the future.

Preparing the vegetables is pretty straightforward, and I missed out on helping peel and chop things because I was feeding Warren at that time. Good thing I'm smart and know how to make mashed potatoes and salad already. haha. But when I was done I made corn scallop, which is a delicious corn casserole type thing. It's my favorite. I also learned Dad's secret to making the perfect gravy. Somehow gravy making became my Dad's responsibility in our family. I guess it's because he's really good at it and it's one less thing for Mom to do. haha.

Pretty much it was a huge success. Everything was super delicious and I was proud of myself for what I did, and Mom was just super happy that she didn't have to do it all alone this time. I didn't take any pictures of the food because I'm just not a food picture taker-er.

Next step is for me to write down all the dishes and recipes so that I can remember how to do it all next month! I'm excited. It's so fulfilling to make awesome food, especially for people other than yourself and your husband. Maybe it's a matter of pride. I dunno. haha. All I know is that I like it when I feed lots of people good food.

Watch out American Thanksgiving! I'm armed with new found cooking skills, and I'm gonna whip them out next month. November 24. I'll be there.

What I do take pictures of are babies. So since my niece was there, I took the opportunity to snap some shots of the two little ones.

Nap time for the little burritos!!

Quality Grandpa/Grandson time :)

Great Grandma with Great Grandchild #1

My kid makes the most awesome faces ever.

And he's way relaxed and just looks around at everything.

hehehe... More awesome faces.

Great Grandma with Great Grandchild #2

Lily's cantaloupe sized head

My mom wanted this picture. Last Christmas the Elders that were living with my parents made a piñata version of my little brother. Their thought was that it would keep my parents company while he was out serving his mission. haha. It works. So the two babies got a picture with their uncle this Thanksgiving. haha!