Our Family Holiday

We started out on Wednesday with the day downtown. Sandy has always wanted to spend some time in the honky tonks listening to country music. She and family arrived Tuesday night. Stephanie and Mindy had to work on Wednesday, so we decided that would be a good day to do it. Butch, me, Sandy, Greg, Mitchell, Victoria, Jordan and Morgan started out at Honkey Tonk Central. I've been there before, but never realized there are 3 levels---each with a different band! Stephanie joined us around lunch time.

 I do love the old buildings along Broadway.

We moved to the the third floor of Honky Central. After spending a few hours there, Butch and the young adults decided to head home. Sandy, Greg, Stephanie and I went across the street to world-famous "Tootsies." They also have 3 levels---I had no idea. The first level was full--it's a  pretty small place. We had front row seats on level 2 and enjoyed some great music.

We left downtown around 4 or 4:30. All day, I had thoughts of the work that needed to be done for Thanksgiving dinner. When we got home, Mindy and Justin had already arrived. Justin peeled 10 lbs. of potatoes, Morgan peeled the 4 lbs. of carrots (which Mindy deemed "not enough"---so Stephanie and Nicky had to buy more) and Butch started on the sloppy joes for dinner. He texted me (which I didn't get until I got home) about where the "Manwich" was. In 46 years, I've probably used that 3 or 4 times. I always make my mom's recipe! Anyway, Mindy and Butch finished them up.

We had happy hour to kick off the evening. Our happy hours are very organized. I hate it when you are in a room full of people and there are many conversations going on. We have everyone sit in a circle. Then we go around the room and each person tells about their week. We always have lively discussions on current events, sports and personal stories. I told everyone they were on their own for dinner---they just needed to help themselves when they were ready. Sandy handled the baking of the sweet potato fries. Everyone pitches in, so the work is not too much on any one person.

We spent the evening with the first of many games.

I bought this pack of Mystery Oreos and challenged everyone to figure out what the flavor was. Greg was adamant that the filling was Fruity Pebbles. Someone else said Fruit Loops---which I agreed with, but also thought it could be Trix. Mindy had the idea to see which of those cereals was owned by Nabisco. Trix won! Now we just have to wait and see when they publish the flavor. Side note---they were terrible. No one liked them. In fact, Justin tried everything to get the taste out of his mouth! (I ended up throwing them away)!

The plan was that we'd start Thanksgiving Day by 9 a.m. with parades and Nicky's famous bloody Mary's. I got up early, put the turkey in the oven and made the last few casseroles. I had a game of "rob your neighbor" planned. I added a couple of twists to make it more interesting. I was so happy that there was fighting over this prize:

Carter (and Morgan) ended up getting it. Apparently, Carter thinks my needlework is amazing! That's pretty flattering coming from a guy!

Our dinner consisted of: Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy (that turned out gross---I tried to use kitchen bouquet like some tv chef to make it a little darker. I had no idea it would change the flavor--disgusting!), homemade cranberry sauce (Sandy's recipe), green bean casserole, corn pudding, carrot casserole, oyster casserole, rolls, pumpkin pie and chocolate bundt cake. Everything was delicious. There wasn't much left---17 people eat a lot! We were thrilled to have friends, Bonnie and Dave join us this year.

I had to set the table in the sunroom---the first time we didn't all cram around the dining room table. I promised the young adults that I would make it festive for them. The only thing missing---Bonnie brought the cutest table favors. She made festive chocolate covered pretzels and added a couple small bottles of different liquors.

She checked with me to make sure that they were age appropriate! She also brought this gorgeous floral arrangement. I love the fall colors.

Mindy, Justin, Bonnie and Dave left after dinner for a long weekend at the beach. The rest of us did a quick clean-up and had the traditional naps and football. More games and more games.

I'll post about the rest of the weekend tomorrow.