Gobble Gobble . . . .

Thanksgiving Weekend was really fun. I planned to stay on my Weight Watchers plan all weekend and for the most part, I did pretty good but certainly didn't eat within the plan on Thanksgiving Day! I think I drank my points on Wednesday and certainly ate them Thursday in Turkey Skin alone (that's my favorite part to snitch). Doug fried a turkey at our house and made a pumpkin cheesecake. I made sweet potato casserole. We took everything to Mom and Dad's where everyone ate. It was a great day - the weather was beautiful! We are very thankful for everything we have - we are very blessed!

Doug in the driveway frying our turkey.

Fried Turkey being lowered into the pot of hot grease - yum!

Slowly it goes into the hot oil. Our turkey was 18 pounds - Doug was scared it wasn't going to fit into the pot. According to Paula Deen, you are only suppose to fry a 14 pound turkey or less (clearly I didn't know this rule when I purchased the bird).

It turned out just beautiful though!

Doug and Daddy carving the birds. Mom roasted a turkey too so we could have traditional stuffing cooked inside the bird. We had 2 turkeys and 1 ham. No one was hungry!

Two turkeys! (and I don't mean Daddy and Doug)

Granny waiting on a snitch of bird.

Uncle Archie and Aunt Selma patiently waiting for the dinner bell.

Zachary gets a snitch of skin too!

Noah comes in from playing outside with the kids.

Each of the 4 grandchildren got to read a special prayer from written scripture as our blessing prior to eating dinner. We also toasted with Mead brought back from Ireland by Honey and Pops. Mead is made from Honey.

Noah and Abbey Grace reciting their portion of the blessing.

Olivia reciting her portion of the blessing.

Finally, Zachary reciting his part, the final part, of the blessing.

The, we all raised our glasses and Daddy explained the history of the Meade as "Meade became very popular at weddings and often, the bride and groom were given special Meade goblets from which to toast each other, as well as enough Meade to last a month - which is where we get the word honeymoon. Often, a bridegroom, laced with copious amounts of Meade was carried to the bedside of his bride after the wedding feast. According to custom, Meade has powers of virility and fertility - thus, if a baby was born nine months after the wedding, it was often attributed to the honey wine (i.e., Meade). Today, it is still the tradition to signal the end of the wedding feast by raising glasses of Meade to toast the newlyweds."

Noah and Abbey Grace eating.

My wonderful Husband-to-Be . . . fast asleep after a long haul home from Alaska (and a full belly of turkey)!

Granny quickly getting some dishes ready.

The boys.

Putting away left overs.