Five Things Thursday

These five things are going to be about our Thanksgiving.

1. Stephanie was supposed to make the Chex Party Mix. She texted me to see if she could make it at our house because A, she didn't have a container big enough to make it in (this family requires a triple batch) and B, she didn't have a container big enough to store it in. Then she asked if I could get the ingredients. 

 Well, at that point, I decided to just go ahead and make it while I was doing a few other things.

Then as I was mixing it, a few pieces flipped in to the cranberries. Looks like the party mix started the party early!

Anyway, when Steph arrived, she was happy to find that I had made it. She admitted that she "pulled a Mindy" at Mindy's encouraging. They knew I would just make it. Steph did have the decency to say she felt guilty. I was played. I'm okay with that. My girls can do/have/get anything they want from me!!

2. The Lapps family arrived on Tuesday in time for happy hour. The whole family was here.

Remember, I said they could bring their dogs? Anybody who knows me realized that hell had frozen over! This is Titan. Morgan brought Walter on Wednesday. Unfortunately I forgot to get a picture of him. It all worked out fine. The dogs are very well-behaved.

I made Monte Cristo sandwiches for dinner. I hadn't made those in years. I took a shortcut the first time I ever made them and they were delicious. I bought the frozen French toast rather than make it from scratch. That saved a lot of time---that and the fact that I have a nice, big, electric griddle. I was able to make all the sandwiches at the same time.

It was nice for us to have the evening together since Mindy and Justin went to his family in Maine the next day.

3. On Thanksgiving morning, we get up early and get all the work done (all the casseroles are made the day before) so that we can get ready by 9 a.m. for bloody Mary's and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade---it's a family tradition. I loved Butch's turkey shirt. Turns out, he said I gave it to him a few years ago. I don't remember that, but this is the first time he's worn it. He forgot about it too!

 4. I kept my centerpiece simple this year as I wanted to be able to put the food on the table.

 It's easy to remove the flowers and make room for all the dishes.

I save time by using clear glass plates that can go in the dishwasher and "fancy" paper plates. I also used my mom's sterling silver.

5. Every year, we do a Christmas craft after Thanksgiving dinner. This year it was snow globes.

 Here is one of the examples I made to show everybody what they can do.

 This is the second one I made.

 We can't do anything without turning it in to a competition. The guys are the judges.

 They come in one at a time so as not to influence each other.

 It's always great fun.

 These are the winners. Two to them were tied for third.

That's it for our Thanksgiving and Five Things Thursday!