Thanksgiving planning (yes in July)

Due to an unexpected convergence of events (including some very happy news for family 😘) we, yes the hus-creature and myself, are hosting a thanksgiving meal this year for family.

For a mere 8 people (which includes our kidlets) therefore I’m fairly sure this counts as small by normal standards here.

Nevertheless, it’s the most we’ve ever catered for in one single sitting.

So, being more than a little nervous, but also excited, and determined to be a decent hostess, I am already into planning overdrive.

We have had gracious offers of food and supplies, which we will gratefully accept, but I do not intend that guests do all of the cooking.


Apart from anything else, I fear that Lady Deirdre Wagon would most certainly not approve!


Also, it’s rude!

So I am making lists of lists of lists and am beginning to plan.

The first thing we need is at least one more crock pot/slow cooker (as we are still using our old one from the U.K. and it requires a small transformer to run) and ideally also a pressure cooker.


I am willing to settle for just the pressure cooker, as a number of models also double as crock pots. But I would very much like two.


I want to practice some of the wonderful side dishes that I have seen in various slow cooker books which we now own.

I’m also planning on getting my bake on.


I blame my newly discovered Nailed It addiction for this particular bout of insanity!


However, I also do not intend to make dessert for this many people if I don’t have to.

To this end I have already reached out to the local bakery that is in close proximity to my knitting group to ask if they do pies.

Within 4 hours they sent me the list of 2017’s seasonal pies:

Sadly, they cannot guarantee all of the same flavours this year, but for example I cannot see them refusing to stock pecan or pumpkin pie.

I’m personally vetoing banana cream pie; as banana and I do not get on well in this sort of medium (one of the hus-creature’s favourite desserts is banoffee pie – we have respectfully agreed to disagree), and apparently I am in an extreme minority with my blueberry preference πŸ€­πŸ˜•


Still, I was lucky enough to get to try their B.B. Pie last year at knitting and it was delicious and tides me over


So we will wait and see nearer the time – apparently they take orders about a month in advance, so nearer the time I will take soundings from my guests and order a few pies.

I’m also planning on adding either cupcakes or one of the gourmet cakes they do to the order so that the kidlets have an option that they won’t immediately refuse – last year neither of them ate a lot of pie (even the fabulous chocolate peanut butter one πŸ™€)

So beware those of you who follow me on Instagram and/or Pinterest – there will be a lot of activity in the coming months. I don’t want to serve something that I’ve only just tried.

Gives me an excuse to try baking biscuits (they are more like savoury scones to us Brits) and cornbread, which I have a weakness for.

I also have a recipe for chocolate gravy (USA style) that I’m itching to try which apparently goes very well with biscuits…

And because a picture-less blog post feels wrong somehow, cute kids are cute πŸ’•

The Thanksgiving Break

It’s taken me a little while to write this as I am missing everyone like crazy so it’s been tough to get things written down.

It was wonderful.

We stayed for three days in the company of family (on the hus-creature’s side) in their stunning guest apartment.

I got to know a number of my lovely in-laws a lot better, which was really something special.

We had the turkey. And the hus-creature and I most generously offered to save everyone from the dreaded dark meat.

Honestly we truly prefer it.

Let me see if I can list the culinary delights:

  • Turkey – of course
  • Mac and cheese (delicious)
  • JalapeΓ±o cheddar corn bread (I need the recipe for this wonder)
  • Sweet potato bourbon maple mash (oh so good)
  • Green beans
  • Gravy
  • Cranberry sauce

Then there was pie. Oh so much pie.

  • Chocolate peanut butter
  • Apple
  • Pumpkin
  • There were two more but I forgot.

Apart from the apple briefly going missing, it was all delicious.

The kids were remarkably well behaved.

TT ate actual food:

#1 Son… did not. But I didn’t really expect that he would.

They had loads of fun outside in the gorgeous grounds of the main house.

TT made daddy take her for a ride in the cart:

There was much happy shouting of “wheee” and “MORE” πŸ’•πŸ’—πŸ’•πŸ’—

#1 Son just ran about a LOT.

There was a brief moment of panic. Do you see the large body of water? There was a moment when Daddy could not find him. He had wandered in to tell me about his “club house” and wandered off again. He meant the guest apartment, which is where he had gone.

Without telling us that he was going there!!!

So no, he had not drowned himself, but we all panicked. He was most confused as to why.

On Friday, almost everyone else took the train to visit New York and do the tour of Lady Liberty.

We opted not to attempt to drag the offspring up 200+ steps. Granddad also decided not to go. So there was brief discussion on how to entertain said childer-beasts, and we decided to go to the nearby aquarium, and leave granddad to rest.

However he decided that he would like to join, which was lovely. However there wasn’t room for five people in our car, lovely though it is.

Therefore, rather than take a Lyft on a very busy day, I selflessly (honestly, see the halo πŸ˜‡πŸ˜‡πŸ˜‡) opted to stay behind in the guesthouse with my knitting, tea and leftover turkey.

Totally generous of me wasn’t it? πŸ˜‚πŸ€£

They had a lot of fun:

Right until they found a soft play area. Whereupon #1 Son had a full on meltdown, including trying to escape from granddad, because other children wanted to play with the things he was building an invention out of.

How very dare they πŸ™„πŸ˜πŸ™„πŸ˜

And so the trip was cut short and they all came home.

All in all it was a lovely visit with family with many moments of happy.

The drive home was much less eventful than the trek up, we managed it on a full ‘tank’.

However upon our return we discovered that when, in his haste, the hus-creature had dropped the car charger to the ground before we embarked, it had gone kaput.

Which, in my humble opinion, makes it entirely unfit for purpose. Sadly it is still busted over a week later but the company are working on it. Stand by for that update.

So yes, that was our Thanksgiving Break. Many thanks are extended to Domi et al for putting us up and for inviting us up for Christmas.

We are very much looking forward to it πŸ‘πŸ»πŸ˜˜

Pre Thanksgiving

These are children who have spent seven hours in the car travelling from Massachusetts to Connecticut – a journey which ought to have taken 3.5 at most.

We have learned a valuable lesson about travelling on Thanksgiving Eve – don’t do it!!!!

We are staying with family in a beautiful attached guest apartment and I’m really looking forward to our first ever Thanksgiving.

TT is settled in her travel cot and sleeping and it’s only an hour and a half past her bedtime.

The hus-creature is now bringing #1 Son across to settle him down too.

I’ll stay with them til he’s settled too then socialise some. I’m not a total hermit πŸ€£πŸ˜‚

Completing the Turkey Trot

Well #1 Son did complete his Fun Run πŸ…

It didn’t quite go according to plan however…

First was the change in venue from outside at Melrose Common to inside in the school using the All Purpose Hall.

Which meant that there was some confusion over whether we could actually cheer him on. However we were let in (very reluctantly by the stalwart Office Manager).

They then split the Kindergarten classes into two groups, and he was running in the second so we had to wrangle a very grumpy TT for 40 min rather than 20.

But the run started and started well.

Then #1 son tripped over one of the cones. And I could see the meltdown coming. So. I pulled up my big girl pants,

AND I RAN WITH HIM

I grabbed his hand and did several circuits while cheering him on.

I am unfit. I was wearing my galaxy leggings.

And this t-shirt:

But we did it. And he was so pleased. Both that we were there, and that I ran with him.

He hasn’t quite grasped that it was a Fun Run and keeps asking if he won gold, but for everyone that sponsored him yes he ran it thank you.

He raised $170 before the run. And the school have met their target

And not only will there be a Popsicle Party for all students, the top performing class per grade get an individual reward.

Stay tuned to hear if his have won.