Thanksgiving Recap: Little Sister to the Rescue

Thanksgiving.... probably my favorite holiday. It's a time to get together with friends and loved ones (which are one in the same for me) without all the commercialized BS and stress of Christmas. Plus I LOVE holiday food.... I may cook each dish individually throughout the year, but the combination of them all on one plate just makes me squirm with delight happy.

This year wasn't looking to be so great, though. Mom has been in the hospital, my siblings are scattered all around the country and my sisters had spent money to come visit mom in the hospital 2 weeks before the holiday, I am broke as a joke, and was sick as I don't know what. My beau was also stuck in town and couldn't go home to visit his family. And we both had our kids for the holiday this year. Plus this was the first year actually being DIVORCED. However, I REFUSED to take all this lying down and instead sprung into action to salvage what I could of the holiday.... yes, little sister stepped up and made an ENTIRE THANKSGIVING DINNER in 1 afternoon. I got up around 11am (I'd been out the night before.... good times, good times) went to the grocery store and then came home and got to work.

Here's what my menu consisted of:

Roast turkey breast and gravy
Spiral sliced ham (with brown sugar, orange and red wine glaze)
Collard greens (mixed with a bit of mustards and okra, made with turkey bacon)
Dressing (with turkey sausage)
Candied sweet potatoes (a family speciality)
Macaroni and cheese (with turkey bacon)
Cranberry sauce & mandarin oranges
And of course, my famous sweet potato pie (famous in my family anyway.... grandma gave me the recipe but always asks for mine)

By a stroke of luck/divine intervention/my mother's vehement insistence, my mother was able to come home Thanskgiving evening. I was soooo happy I had a meal for my parents to come home to, AND a meal she could actually eat. I didn't use pork in anything (well, except for the ham, but the ham was for my son at his insistence)..... turkey everything. I even made the sweet potato pies with Splenda (though not the candied sweet potatoes, because the sauce doesn't thicken up right without real sugar).

This was the first holiday meal I'd made entirely on my own and I was SO nervous that I was going to mess something up (ok, so I did burn a few pieces of sweet potato). But everyone was very pleased, and that made me very pleased, despite the fact that I was thoroughly exhausted by the end of the night and woke up feeling like microwaved death. I was a little irked because my sister had told me she was coming for Thanksgiving, but then called at 4pm to say she was coming Friday when I'd already made enough food for all fo them too........ *pause* But we ate up their share anyway (sorry fo ya, big sis).

It wasn't anything fancy or formal.... just me, the kids, Beau and his son sitting around wherever we could find a seat at my parents', eating on paper plates with plastic utensils. My parents didn't even eat with us because Dad was helping Mom get situated upstairs. Yea, we're not very formal, but we made it work. And I really must give myself a pat on the back for this one.... I stepped up and saved the day.