Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday centered around food and thankfulness. I've spent it many different ways, going away to family gatherings with a dish in hand, not being able to come home when I lived out of state & having friends-giving (such a fun time to make non-traditional dishes), staying home for a quiet day with my small family and cooking up a big feast together (one of my favorites). On this Thanksgiving, we had the wonderful opportunity, as a newly married couple who moved a few hours south from Ohio to West Virginia, to host my family in our little brick house.
Wayne and I were especially excited about this, seeing that it would be our first holiday we didn't have to travel home for and we both love to host! The week started out with the usual household chores of laundry and cleaning and Tuesday awoke around 6am with a whole host of food preparation! This was the day I was excited for. Wayne left to hunt with his buddy Andrew and I put the rising bread dough in the oven. By mid-morning I had the dressing (stuffing) mixed, potatoes cut and ready to boil, pie crust rolled out and filling made, sweet potato casserole prepped and a list of things that I still needed for Wayne to bring home.
He arrived around 1:30pm with bags in hand and the afternoon off! So we spent it together, he took me out that night and we officially felt like we were on holiday time!
Wednesday morning I set and photographed the tablescape while he de-boned the piebald deer he shot on Monday to send along with Andrew to Ohio for processing. We spent the afternoon in town together running errands and in the evening we baked the pie, prepped the turkey and Wayne made the venison backstraps on the grill for us.
Thursday morning woke us up at 6 to put the turkey in the oven and back to bed before we had a cup of coffee on the couch together and started the rest of the feast! After putting the potatoes on the stove to boil and started browning the dressing, simmering the cranberry sauce and sweet potato casserole in the oven the morning flew by! Before we knew it my Dad and brother walked through the door, rosy-cheeked and arms full of hugs!
Wayne helped me juggle the last chores as Dad carved the turkey and I made some gravy. We set the spread out on the counter and filed through before sitting down at the table, candlesticks lit and sparkling apple cider poured. The meal was completed by slices of pumpkin custard pie and cups of coffee.
We played a vicious game of unwrap-the-big-ball-that-Wayne-used-all-the-tape-in-the-house-to-hide-silly-gifts-in and laughed up a storm as we tried to open this thing wearing oven mitts before the next person rolled a 6 and took it!
The rest of the afternoon contained the usual Thanksgiving day activity including couch sitting, paper reading, hunting movie watching, hot tub soaking, pumpkin pie latte drinking, snacking, snacking, snacking and a few games of euchre (which Wayne and I won) before my sweet family hit the road again.
Wayne and I took a short walk outside in the chilly air before coming back in for the evening with full hearts and bellies. What a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Thank-you Lord for such wonderful blessings on this earth, for family and home.
