Day Twenty Eight: I'm Thankful for Thanksgiving

                         

Just two more days left to share what I'm thankful for.  I really thought I'd be having a tough time with it, by now.  I used to write a blog post called Ten Things Thursday, and had the hardest time coming up with ten random pieces of information to share.  It's amazing to me that after 28 days of selecting a different thing to be thankful for, I'm still going strong.

Today, of course, I'm thankful for this day.  What this whole month has been about...counting down to this day.  Thanksgiving.  A day to be thankful, to surround myself with family, and to eat...and eat...and eat.  

Even though I won't be spending Thanksgiving how I planned on spending it, or exactly how I wanted to, it will still be an amazing day.  Sure, I would have preferred if my parents and my siblings would have been here with me today.  With everything that's been going on, it was my decision to just keep Thanksgiving small and simple at our own houses.  But, I'm definitely not going to complain about the people I will be spending today with.  My wonderful family.  Hubby and the kids.  Couldn't ask for anyone that I'm thankful for more than them.

There's something about the holidays that opens up an inner Martha Stewart inside of me.  Makes me all warm and fuzzy.  Makes me want to cook and bake and make stuff.  Which is definitely NOT normal for me.

I don't cook.  Not really.  Every now and then, Hubby will force ask me to cook.  And, I will, but it won't be anything near as fancy or creative as he usually makes.  He's the chef in this house.  He comes up with some wonderful meals for our family, and I knew he was a keeper the first time he did that.  It's not that I can't cook, I just prefer not to.  When there's someone else in the house that's so good at it and enjoys it as much as Hubby does, why on earth would I do it?

There's just one day that has an exception to all of that, and that would be today...Thanksgiving.  Today is my day to be in the kitchen preparing all the goodies that my family will chow down on.  The only thing Hubby does is the turkey.  I would cook it, but Hubby feels a little left out if I don't assign him something to do.  By giving him the turkey, he can throw it in the roaster, check on it every once in a while, baste it with his own concoction, and stay out of my way while I'm preparing everything else.  

Oh, and he usually prepares some form of dessert.  This year he's making homemade apple pie.  I don't like pumpkin pie, so that's not a usual thing at our house on Thanksgiving.  It is when the whole family is here, but being that it's just us, we went with something everyone likes.

I even decided to have a go at preparing a dessert last night.  Jelly and I ran to the grocery store yesterday afternoon and picked up all the ingredients to make Buche de Noel... or Yule Log.  Here's what it looked like after making it...

                                

It's missing the chocolate ganache in the picture, because I couldn't put that on until this morning. For someone that NEVER bakes, I was pretty impressed with how it turned out.  I'm pretty sure the cake wasn't supposed to crack the way it did as I was rolling it, because I think I overdid it just a little with the cream filling.  But, even without the ganache, it looks very "loggy", right?

Here's the picture of it all finished, with the ganache...

                                

Not the prettiest thing you ever saw, but I think it's looks delicious.  I put a little too much ganache on it, so it made the "log" look more like a giant tree stump, but who's going to care as they are eating it?  I think I might put some powered sugar over the top before we eat it, to give it the appearance of snow.  

I'm pretty impressed with myself.  For someone that NEVER bakes, I think I did a pretty good job of it.  And everything is made from scratch, there's no boxed anything used in the creation of that dessert.

For the rest of today, I'll be preparing all of the "fixings" to go with dinner:  Roasted potatoes, sausage dressing, green bean casserole, corn, turkey gravy, and traditional Yorkshire Puddings.  The Yorkshire Puddings are an English thing, and no holiday dinner is quite right without them.  Of course, that's if they turn out right.  I haven't had the best luck the last few times I've made them.  Hubby made sure to boost my confidence by buying some heat and serve rolls..."just in case".  

Regardless of whether or not the food turns out "perfect", I am just thankful that we will have so much to eat and that we'll all be together.  I often get caught up in the minor details and don't really take any time to think about how grateful I should be and how thankful that I have as much as I do.  So, if something doesn't turn out just right, I won't stress, I won't get upset, I'll just move on and enjoy what we do have.

Once all the of the food is prepared and eaten, dishes are cleaned, and dessert has been inhaled, the kids and I will do our usual Thanksgiving tradition of putting up the tree, and then sitting down with some hot chocolate to watch our first Christmas movie of the year.  The kids are torn between Elf and Polar Express.  I couldn't care less what we watch, as long as we're all together.  

That's how our Thanksgiving day ends each and every year, and the end is just as important as the beginning.  I know that Thanksgiving is supposed to be a day dedicated to giving thanks, and isn't really supposed to have anything to do with Christmas... but it's a day that I give thanks, and start the Christmas season.  

It's just what I do.

I've spent almost an entire month being thankful, so I don't think it's too bad if I decide to use Thanksgiving Day as the beginning of the Christmas season.  At least I waited.  I know so many people that started their Christmas decorating WEEKS ago!  That's one thing I refuse to do.  Thanksgiving deserves some limelight...and I give it what it's due.  

My goal for this year, however, is that I don't just remember all that I'm thankful for during the month of November.  I really want to remember all of this each and every hour, day, and month that passes.  But, I'm getting ahead of myself... I'm spoiling what I plan on writing about in a couple of days.  

Right now, I have tons of food to start preparing, so I'm going to go.

But, I would like to wish all of my friends, family, acquaintances, and anyone that reads this blog a wonderful, happy, amazing Thanksgiving.  Enjoy your time with loved ones, be thankful for all of the blessings in your life.

Also, if you are a person that happens to be working today, I want to thank you and hope that you have had or will have the opportunity to spend some time with your families.  I know there's been a lot of commotion about whether or not people work on Thanksgiving.  

I'm not going to get in on that debate.  People want to boycott stores and be up in arms about people having to work on this day.  I want to know how many people are boycotting the military on this day?  Think about all of those men and women that are away from their families today...without anyone being up in arms about that!  If you don't like that people are working today, fine.  Don't shop in those stores.. but don't be upset about it.  There's no reason to cause anymore hate than what is already out there.  Like I've said thousands of times, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but there's no reason to throw hate around.  Do what you feel is right to do, and let others decide what they feel is right to do.  If someone decides to take advantage of sales today, don't judge them for it.  If someone chooses not to be apart of any sales today, don't judge them either.  Each person has the right to make decisions for themselves, and don't need any added pressure of what others might think of them for it.

I happen to know someone that volunteered to work today.  Actually, I know a couple.  One volunteered because she wants the extra money.  Another volunteered because they've already had Thanksgiving over the weekend, and by her volunteering can allow others to be home with their families.  Nobody knows the stories of everyone's lives... so please keep your judgements to yourself... please?

OK, rant over....

Again...HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!!