The Tangrens

When Derek's parents were here in October they were telling us all about their remodeling plans and how the whole house was torn up. They mentioned that if they didn't get things moving that they might have to cancel Thanksgiving. We weren't sure what would happen but as it got closer it wasn't getting done and we started to think of other options around here. Then one Sunday I had a thought. "Why don't we just stay in a hotel and if the kitchen is still in shambles then we'll go out to eat!" Perfect! Derek has hotel points that he could use and everything would be fine. I wondered why I didn't think of that before. Hyrum and Noah would be over the moon about swimming in the pool and staying in a hotel. We booked a riverside room across the Snake river from the Idaho Falls temple and we looked forward to seeing the Christmas lights illuminate on Friday night along the river. It ended up costing us money but we don't get up there enough, we had the money and we wanted to see Derek's family.

Then we had to buy Derek a new suit, and get new brakes and new tires. We started to waiver on our conviction to go to Idaho Falls. Then I was talking to Derek's mom listening to her work schedule while we were there. She was working A LOT of hours. We probably wouldn't end up seeing her much because when she wasn't working she should be sleeping. And Derek's brother had work right now and might be working on Friday. But by the time we ended the conversation we had reservations at the hotel restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner. I was beginning to waiver even more but felt committed.

We got all packed and were out on the road to Idaho and had stopped to eat something when Derek had called his mom to see if she wanted us to stop by that night before going to the hotel. She informed us that both she and David ( Derek's brother) had been really sick. And in the meantime the sickness that the boys and I had had and Derek had been avoiding was beginning to catch up to him. It was too much. We called back and said that we just didn't think it would be a good idea to go all that way and either not see anyone or risk getting someone sick. We turned around and called the hotel to cancel. As providence would have it, I'd never told the boys we were going to a hotel to stay ( although I think Hyrum suspected) so it wasn't as traumatic as it could have been to go home. As a bonus they were able to get everything refunded for us. We thought we'd have to pay a cancellation fee at least but everything was refunded.

But then what were we going to do about Thanksgiving dinner? We headed right for the store and got all we'd thought we would need. Didn't think about the luggage in the trunk until we got to the car but as luck would have it, it all fit.

We got the boys in bed and then took to thawing the turkey. We were totally learning as we went. ( Am I dumb for thinking it was cute to have a little butterball turkey)

Derek had heard talk of brineing a turkey and wanted to try it out. We set out to concoct our brew.

Three hours after starting to thaw it we thought it was done. ( shakes head) We got off the packaging and discovered that it was still frozen ( surprise, surprise) But we decided to soldier on and put it in the brine overnight.

We put it in the garage since there was no way to get a cooler in the fridge. Derek was worried about it going bad so he put a few ice cubes in the brine. I thought the frozen turkey would keep it cold enough. So we went to bed with turkey's swimming in bacteria dancing in our heads.

The next morning the boys and I watched the parade. The still unpacked luggage was convenient.

Is it just me or is the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade not as good as it used to be? It seemed like we saw a WHOLE lot of the hosts and a few flashes of the parade. When we watched the parade the boys were totally into it...then they'd go back to the hosts who were talking about broadway shows and Victoria Secrets shows ( hello?!?) I just kept waiting for it to get good...then all of a sudden Santa came down the street. Hyrum "fainted" when he saw Santa and Spideman. The things he learns from Peanuts holiday specials.

I was worried that it was still frozen when I went to check on the bird but when I pulled it out of the brine to put it in the fridge to defrost I realized that it was in fact thawed. Pulling the giblets out was nearly more than I could handle so I had Derek do it. But since he wasn't feeling well he spent most of his day in bed relaxing. Hyrum joined him.

While the bird baked,

I relaxed a bit myself, and slowly washed the potatoes, made jello and juice. The weather was so nice that Noah played outside on the slide while I washed and peeled potatoes. I couldn't do the vegetables or the muffins until the turkey was out and Stove top stuffing doesn't take long. (It's the kind Derek likes ok?) The turkey was done faster than we'd originally thought. (I'm telling ya the bag is the way to go!) It was crazy half an hour 45 minutes while the turkey rested but by the end everything was done.

I did manage to burn potatoes though. That has never ever happened before. Guess that's what you get when you are letting everything cook on it's own. Wow. But it was only the bottom ones and nothing was ruined. In fact the turkey was really good too. Juicy, moist and flavorful. It was a Thanksgiving day miracle. And no one got sick. Both Derek and I were so paranoid about bacteria. Both of us kept washing our hands and bleaching things. We knew just enough to be scared.

While the turkey cooked I made headbands for the whole family. The boys were Indians and Derek and I were pilgrims. I have to say that it made my heart so happy that all of my boys kept their headbands on the entire dinner. I was so happy that they thought they were cool.

After dinner it was browsing the ads and watching the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special. And we ended it with a bloody nose for Noah and a goose egg for Hyrum. Boys!

All in all as scared as I was of EVER cooking a Thanksgiving dinner, much less by myself, it wasn't all that bad. Granted I wasn't preparing for anyone to come over and see my house, and I didn't have the festive details my mom always has but I think it turned out REALLY well considering. I might just do it again someday! :) Happy Thanksgiving!