Sorry to say.....

I did NOT get pictures of my Thanksgiving dinner taken. By the time it was all made & dished I was soooooooo darn tired that I totally forgot. Then afterwards, everything was in a shambles & I REALLY didn't want to take pictures of that! Heck, by the time I sat down with my plate I was so exausted that I sat there looking at it for 5 minutes before I remembered what I was supposed to do with it. *wry smile*

I was responsible (by my choice) for the majority of the dinner. This is the last year that my dad & baby sis are going to be in town (if everything goes as planned), and while I DO gripe about them both rather frequently, it does also mean the last Thanksgiving with any of my family (as Mom & middle sis are both living in different states already). So, for the past several years (I think this made year 6), we've had thanksgiving dinner at my house, so my family & the inlaws could come over. Christmas has always been spent at the inlaws, with just a short (1 to 2 hour) stop in at Dad's house. But this way DH could see his parents & I could see my family. Won't be the case next year.

So, anyway.... I was up till after 1 am Wed. night cleaning house, then was back up at 7 am yesterday morning to get the turkey in the oven in time (it was a 23 pounder, we ALWAYS do big turkeys). Dinner was set for 1 pm (didn't get finished till 1:30, though). After getting the turkey in, because it REALLY was too early to start anything else (and the Pumpkin Gooey Butter cake was already made), I sat down & watched some TV for an hour. Finished cleaning house then started on more dinner preparations. Baby Sis & niece got here at noon (on the dot!), because Mom told her that I was angry last year when she was over an hour late. (I WAS peeved, but mainly because Dad needed to get home & get some sleep before having to work. That's why we have dinner so early, in the first place. And she'd left his house -where she was living at the time- BEFORE Dad. On top of that, she wasn't answering her cell phone, so we had no idea what had happened to her.) So, this year she decided to show up VERY early & DD got to "enjoy" the company of her darling little cousin for quite a while longer than we'd thought.

Dad showed up at about 12:30 (I DID jump on the pc for about 20 minutes between 11 and noon, just to check my emails), and I was already starting to get frantic about the rate at which I was getting the side dishes ready. Now, Dad brought the Green bean casserole, so I didn't have to make that, but it also wasn't quite hot through yet, so it had to go in. The turkey came out at 12:30, went back in at about 1 as the Inlaws got here with Older Nephew (4-1/2 years) in tow.

Kids headed to DD's room to play, and Niece & Nephew (who'd never met prior to yesterday) actually got along fairly well. Niece seems to get an inordinate amount of joy out of pestering & hurting DD, though. At one point DD came out & said Niece stuck her tongue out at DD. I asked her if that in any way harmed DD or DD's property, she said no, I sent her back to play with directions NOT to be a whiny tattle-tale. DD came out later saying Niece had hit her, and baby sis decides she's going to use the same tactic (as I was in the kitchen working on dinner) and ask DD if Niece in any way hurt DD or DD's property. DD said yes, it hurt to get hit. To which Sis said "Oh, she's HALF your size, how could SHE hurt YOU?!?!" DD went back, without recourse (DH & Dad were also in the kitchen helping me, and MIL & FIL were keeping quiet unless Nephew (their responsibility) was involved. Niece got off without even a scolding for that one.

So, dinner was finally done & set out to serve @ about 1:40. All kids & women in the kitchen around our tiny, six-seat table (technically seats six, really seats 4 comfortably & six with little room to spare). Dad, FIL & DH were seated in the livingroom with TV trays. Didn't have any of the meal items ON the table, all were arrayed around the kitchen counters & on the stove-top, with rolls left in the now-off oven. Next house we buy WILL have enough room for a larger table & a side board! *wink*

So, finished dinner & stood/sat (only have 5 seats in our house, 1 computer chair that was pulled to living room, 3 couch seats, 1 rocking chair) around watching hunting shows. (Dad, FIL & DH enjoy these, and as a rule, WHO controls the remote control??? It wasn't me!) There was this show with enourmous log lodges that came on. We all (adults) sat/stood around commenting on the size & luxury of these. (Guys were Ooohing, MIL & I were commenting on how sucky it'd be to clean one of them, and Sis was bragging about how HER custom-built-house that her fiancee is going to build her -in her wildest dreams!- is going to be about "that size but not look like a log cabin!").

DD came out & said that niece was hiding in the closet (so THAT'S what that thumping sound was!) & wouldn't come out. Our closets are too tiny & have too much stuff in them for children to be playing in, so I went to the door & told Niece to come out (with hotwheels cars all over the floor, I wasn't going IN unless I had to). Saw Niece peaking out at me, so I went back to watching the log-houses show. Minutes later DD comes out again & says that Niece STILL won't come out of the closet & NOW she'd kicked DD when DD tried to pull her out. I DID go in, this time, and told DD right off that she needs to have a GROWN UP do the removing of cousins from closets, from now on. Then I found Niece almost stuffing herself under the bed in an attempt to hide. So, I told her that not only are we NOT allowed to play in the closets in our house (a second time, saying this to her) but that since she's kicked DD, she needs to either apologise or go sit on her Mama's lap. She refused, I reiterated & made her stand in front of DD (Nephew was -ironically- politely ignoring the going on's and playing with the cars). When she refused, a third time, to apologise to DD for kicking her, I picked her 30 pound self up, and took her out to sit on her mama's lap. My Sis didn't look all that pleased to be interupted from playing with her nintendo hand-held, but DID coax Niece to apologise.

The next time Niece did something (I'd sat down in the kitchen to read, by this time), I let DH take care of it. Niece is so timid around him (he's six foot tall & built like a line backer, she's esp. intimidated because she KNOWS he's not wrapped around her little finger) that his standing at the door & telling her to knock it off (while Sis pointedly avoided doing anything to chastise her own daughter) sufficed to stop Niece's actions. After which, Sis decided that she'd had enough, and started her car to leave. That was about 4 pm. YEAH!!!!!! Dad left about a half hour later. DD then called her best friend to see if she could go over & play (BF lives right around the corner, then left herself.)

The inlaws stuck around till about 5:30 before they decided they were ready to leave. Nephew was fairly well behaved, except for the fact that he couldn't seem to calm down & he kept chasing the dogs & niece (when she was here) around the house despite repeated directions to STOP running (wouldn't normally be an issue, except for how packed our house was at the moment). Got to the point that all adults would put their feet up to stop the running, as the children tried to run past. Even your most agile 4 year old can't dodge that many adult sized legs in that small a living room. *wink* Oh, and all Nephew ate (Niece at very well, actually) was his mashed potatoes, 2 rolls, and a piece of cake. Can we say "Carb overload"?!?!?! Sis helped herself to 1/4 of the remainder of my honey for her turkey and crap-loads of ranch dressing & bacon bits for her potatoes. She loads SOOOOO much butter, ranch & bacon bits onto ANY form of potato she has that it really can't be considered potato any more. It's more like ranch & bacon thickened with potato starch. I was smart, though, and put about 1 cup of bacon bits into a small jar (only partly full) and hid the huge thing of bacon bits, so that when I DID see Sis with the jar, I could comment that this was all we had, so please go sparingly. (Ok, so I lied, but I don't belive in waltzing into somebody's house & making rude demands & using up all their supplies. As it was, she used up about 1/4 of what honey I REALLY DID have left -I use it in tea, and mixed with ACV when DD is sick or I feel I might be getting sick- then got gripey that it was partially crystalized & she had to microwave it to get it runny.)

After that.... DH & I sat around watching TV all evening. DD got to spend the night over at her BF's house (their parents hosted THEIR TG party this year, and have a huge family, have a "the more the merrier" point of view, and a LOT bigger house than we do). Finally, after watching ER with DH, we both headed to bed. I'd planned to sleep till 10, but Dad got me up at 9:15. DH was up at 4 so that he could be at the big W. in time for their 5 to 11 morning-after-TG sale. FIL had conscripted DH to pick up MIL's & DD's Christmas presents as well as a new computer (a FIRST computer) for MIL & FIL.

DH winded up at GameStop, purchasing a new (Gently used, New to DD) Nintendo DS-some-thing-or-other & 2 games as DD's primary Christmas present. Need to find a couple more things (I'm thinking a couple of books and a bathrobe) for her, and a hand-full of stocking stuffers. Dh is of the opinion that the Nintendo thing cost enough ($119, on sale, and gently used) that DD doesn't need anything more. I tend to follow the rule "Something you want (nintendo thingy), something you need (a bathrobe), something to wear (bathrobe also fits this rule), and something to read (a book or 2). That way we don't go overboard & DD doesn't get so much that she can't appreciate it. And in our house, Santa only fills the stockings. I've already got her a few of those rubber slogan bracelets (a six pack from www.thehungersite.com, one from each of the 6 charity sites there). I'm thinking a cd or two (Kelly Pickler?), maybe a thing of nail polish, lip gloss..... We don't overdo Christmas here like my parents used to. (Sorry Mom!) In DH's family they only ever got 1 or two gifts each. In my family there were so many gifts (ok, so there were pkgs of socks & new PJ's, but mostly just "stuff") that we never could remember what we'd gotten. (Though, Mom & Dad only ever gave us 1 BIG gift a year.) We figure 3 or 4 for DD, and 1 or two each for DH & I (DH gets one from me & one from DD, I get one from DH & one from DD) is plenty. And DD's got her stocking that Santa fills. That's plenty. (Though, it IS always funny -when I take DD for her Santa pictures- to see "Santa" look shocked when DD asks him for small things like hotwheels cars & lip gloss. No way to explain to him in advance that in OUR house Santa only fills the stocking.)

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Well, let's see...... Other than that, did you know that Harry Potter & The Order of the Pheonix will be out July 13, 2007? Yep. Here's a link:http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&id=1808475612&cf=info with pictures (AWESOME!), a trailer (FUN!) and lots of other info. I was hoping it'd be out at Christmas, like most of the past movies have been. What a bummer that we've got to wait till next summer to see it!!!! Here I was thinking I had something to look forward to in the upcoming month!!!! (Christmas tends to be a bit of a let-down for me. So much anticipation, ending in such an anticlimactic day.) Ahhh well..... One more reason to look forward to summer (other than the fact that winter in Alaska is freaking cold!). I guess in July, when the weather is either miserably hot or raining, I can anticipate sitting in a cool theater watching a kick-ass movie. *grin* Yep, there's something to anticipate.

Ok, sorry that I don't have any pictures of yesterday's supper to share. I've got the carcass on the stove, simmering away to make stock, so when I've got the turkey veggie soup made, I'll try to remember to take a pic of that to share here.

Have a Blessed Day!