Road Tripping To Dallas

Thanksgiving, 2010

Thanksgiving, 2019

We are up early at 6:00, as usual when we are driving a good distance and today, we have eight hours to get to Dallas, to our daughter Beth's family.  It looks like rain most of the way but no snow so we are grateful for that.

Yesterday was a classic Thanksgiving day, the way it should be. I was up early, waiting for the rest to arise and by 9:00, the prepping began as the four of us, Tommy, Mary, Evie and me, took over the kitchen and got to work.  By 10:30, the turkey was ready, sitting on a bed of onions, the basting butter with maple syrup and siracha ready.  I peeled the potatoes, Mary got the yeast rolls ready, Tom and Evie did the rest, the roasted green beans with mushrooms and onions, and the sausage for the stuffing.  For gravy, Evie roasted some turkey wings at the lake and brought the broth with her.

Making Crepes

Davis Creperie

Exhausted From Begging

By 11:00, Nick and Marlena were up and it was time for crepes.  Marlena got busy making the batter and made them in her new crepe pan, compliments of Evie Joy.  Everyone loved them, either with lemon and sugar or whipped cream.  By 11:30, everyone was well fed and it was time for football, the first game of three for a surfeit of football.  Since we were eating around 4:30, the turkey went in the oven at noon and most of the prepping was done until 4:00.  So we spent the rest of the afternoon watching football, talking, playing Bananagrams and thinking about the dinner to come.

The Davis Family

Hey

Bella And Mary Cyrus

We expected the turkey to take 3/4 hours but it was ready by 2:30, earlier than expected.  So we ate a little earlier, at 3:45 which means we will be hungry tonight for turkey sandwiches.  Around 3:30, it was photo time, so like every holiday, we took too many photos of the family in all sorts of configuration.  Fortunately, we have a photogenic family!  After the shoot, the vegetables went in the oven around 3:15 and we brought out a bottle of wine to enjoy as we waited for everything to be done.

Turkey Carving Masters

Everybody Helps

Tom carved the turkey at 3:30, with me supervising, as the gals got the sides ready and Frank, Mary's Dad, cleaned up the kitchen as we made a mess, a true group effort.

The Requisite Family Selfie

Our dinner was one of the best we have had, the turkey moist and juicy, the sides perfect, especially the onions Evie scraped off the bottom of the roasting pan.  My favorites, as always, was stuffing and mashed potatoes with homemade gravy, the best.  After dinner, the guys waddled over to the couches to watch more football, while the girls did up the dishes with no complaints. Once our food had settled we had cheesecake for dessert, a nice change from pumpkin pie  Early evening Evie and I went downstairs, packed up our stuff and put it in the car so we would have an easy go of it early tomorrow morning when we drive to Dallas. And six of us played a card game called Telefunky when we had enough football.  Around 9:30, Nick and his friends, Peyton and Chris, took off for a neighborhood party and the rest of us watched some TV until we got tired and went to bed.  I finally finished, Olive, Again and liked it despite the deep sadness of the end of her life.

Three Turkeys