This past weekend we gathered some dear friends and hosted Thanksgiving Dinner. There was turkey, lots of yummy sides, and even yummier desserts.  I brined the turkey in the usual sea salt bath overnight which creates a moist, delicious turkey.  Some of the sides we made were creamy mashed potatoes and baked beans with bacon.  Matthew’s baked beans are always a hit!  For dessert I made pumpkin pies from our garden pumpkins which I think created some happy bellies.

Lots of pictures behind the cut.

Because there’s alot to make on actual Thanksgiving day I usually make the mashed potatoes the night before and then cook them on Thanksgiving Day.

I also made the pumpkin pies that night so they would set and be cold.

When we woke up that morning we had to first get the cats off the table.  For some reason they all wanted to stretch out and sleep up there.

The turkey went into the oven with it’s cut up vegetables.

We always put white wine in the pan for the turkey but we never have a cork, so Matthew always makes one.  It’s become tradition now that he makes one everytime.

Ta-da!  Homemade cork.

For dinner cards this year I decided to go with writing names with chalk.  The good thing is these cards then become reusable.

Everyone.  Double check.  Good.

I really love how they look.

Then I set the table and got everything ready.

Put the flowers in place too..

I bought too many flowers.  I love them.

Sunflowers are always pretty.

I put a few cups of lemons in water all over the table, that way if anyone wanted lemon for their drink they could just take one.  Plus they smell great.

Final presentation.

And more..

And more.  Our place gets great light so we wanted to take advantage of that.

We had to put 2 tables together because we wanted everyone to sit at the same table, this worked out nicely.

Name cards in place…

Then we stepped back, kept cooking and waited for guests to arrive.

How many times do you usually test the turkey to make sure it’s done?  This is tradition too.

Then finally the beautiful turkey was done!

Oh glorious turkey.  All the kitties noses started to wiggle as they realized they would get some turkey testing soon.

FiFi Bofinkles got a quick tester.  She ate a few pieces in about .2 seconds.

Add a little bit of flour to the turkey pan drippings and you have the best gravy in the world.

Let’s cut up the turkey..

And some more.  I’m more of a dark meat girl, Matthew is more into the white.

Stuffing that I could just eat by the spoonful.

Green bean casserole.

Mashed potatoes. I ended up making 2 bowls of these which was a good thing.

The glorious baked beans which will solve all  the problems in the world.

Vegetables that were cooked in the turkey pan.. carrots, celery..

Baked squash with thyme. I was loving this.

Colcannon, which is mashed potatoes, onions and kale.  This was one of my favorites!

There was some vegetable salad in there too..

Lots of delicious food… lots of amazing smells..

Sparkling juices, soda, water, choose your poison.

Grab a plate and get in line.

And grab some food.

My plate,  before.

My plate, after.

Hello beautiful.

Friends and food.  Life is good.

For dessert I tried everything.  My pumpkin pie in the top right (nom), cheesecake in the top left (beyond amazing, a star in my heart), homemade vanilla ice cream (was unbelievable) and sweet coconut sticky rice (yum).

Matthew mixed some ice cream and root beer… root beer float time.

Then Xanadu showed up to entertain us all.  There are no cats/table rules in our house, everyone is invited  to the feast.

Thanksgiving in August was a great time!