Thanksgiving fun

So Thanksgiving was bigger this year than usual. I generally don't do that much food wise b/c finding substitutes for the traditional foods makes my head spin but this year I was feeling the groove. My husband has ALWAYS told me to just go easy with holiday foods b/c he doesn't care if it's the usual stuff. They generally have a party in his squadron anyway and he gets pumpkin pie there... and that's what matters. lol

First you should know my parents were here. Aren't they cute??

With my parents being here, we had more allergens to add to our list. BUT, I am very glad to add them to our list to have them here. Having them here makes all things sparkly and totally worth it!! :)


So we started off our morning with Wassail. Yumm yummm! We substituted the usual xylitol for honey and couldn't tell a difference. Let me just tell you, Wassail makes the house smell like holidays. Even if we didn't drink it, I would have it simmering on the stove all day just for the smell. We all sucked it down all day though even though it was hot outside and not really Wassail weather. ;)

I was supposed to give the kids pumpkin smoothies for breakfast but didn't have my brain during breakfast prep and made the usual smoothie. So a few hours later, I made them individual pumpkin smoothies. It's all the ingredients of a pumpkin pie (no eggs and there's coconut milk instead of dairy) complete with spices; so basically it's a drinkable pumpkin pie. :D

Then we decided to paint turkey place mats. But there was a twist, we had to pull names out of a hat (or in our case, out of a paint cup) and make one for whomever you drew. It was tons of fun and everyone got into it!! I was surprised b/c I did not think all the adults would enjoy it but they did.


Then it was playtime with Pawpaw. Kate got a GALLOPING piggy back ride. Then Pawpaw got mobbed by kidlets when he got too close to the floor. That's pretty much what they did for a long time.

Oh and yes, Pawpaw shaved his Sean Connery look off between paint time and play time. :D


I cooked a free-range turkey in the oven. It came out tasty-o! Then there was onion and garlic kale, potatoes (red and sweet) and acorn squash with cinnamon. Waaaay more starchiness than we eat normally but it's a special day so we lived on the edge. ;)

For desert we had what was going to be a raw fruity thing but I ended up cooking it and then topping with coconut ice cream!! That was the FIRST desert I have made for a holiday in at least 6 years. Daddyman couldn't remember me having ever done anything since the kids allergies hit so it might be as much as 11 years. HA! I forgot to take a picture but mushed up fruit isn't pretty anyway. The ice cream was pretty. :)

I think we watched a movie or something after that. I can't remember but I think it was Danny Kaye's "The Court Jester". Tony was laughing so much that it made Daddyman and I LOL. Just love that old movies are still funny. :D

On a side note, Daddyman was working that day (the military doesn't take days off ya know) but he got to come home early so that was very special. We had anticipated seeing him for only an hour or two before bed but he got to spend most of the day with us. Yay!

And that is about it. A normal holiday as far as I can tell!! :D