THANKSGIVING PANDEMIC STYLE

 Hello, friends!  I hope everyone in the States had a great Thanksgiving Day yesterday.  It certainly was a different one for us, but we ended up having a terrific day.  Although I did miss being with my family, it was safer to just stay home this year.

As usual I got up way before Joe.  I like having the morning to myself to wake up, do things around the house, and lately to watch at least two (sometimes three) Hallmark movies.  It takes 90 minutes to take my morning medicine before I can eat.  They all have to be taken separately and spaced 30 minutes apart.  A great time to blog too.

At any rate I didn't do all that much yesterday.  In fact, I ended up falling asleep after breakfast and waking up when Joe came downstairs around lunch time.  Boy, did that feel good to get that extra sleep!  And being the big kids that we are instead of lunch we ended up having coffee for Joe and hot chocolate for me.  I have been craving hot chocolate for weeks and now that urge is over!

As soon as we finished our drinks, I started the turkey.  I had a breast that weighed about 6 pounds.  I lifted it into the sink to open it and wash it off and hurt my back.  So Joe had to do the lifting for me.  Joe found me a recipe on the Allrecipes website and I used that to mix up some butter and herbs to put under and on  the skin.  And boy was that ever good!  It smelled wonderful cooking too.  We let it roast for an hour while we just sat and talked.  Then it was time to put the rest of the butter on it and cook it for another 30 minutes.  I actually cooked it a little longer than that because I wasn't sure it was done.  It turned out just right.

While it was cooking for the last part we went into the living room and watched some TV.

After I took the turkey out of the oven I started on all of the sides while it rested.  I am not good at getting a large meal to all come out at the same time.  So it was a little hectic for me.

But finally everything was done.  Joe told me to take a picture of the sides.

Mashed potatoes, stuffing (I added sautéed mushrooms to it and it was wonderful!), Brussels sprouts cooked in butter, cranberry sauce, and gravy.

I sliced some of the turkey breast and put it on a plate.  I do not like turkey all that much.  I especially do not like white meat.  But this I loved!  It was so moist and juicy!  And there is a lot left.

Every year at my sister's house, my brother has a picture taken of him holding his silverware waiting to start eating.  Here's a picture of Larry from a couple of years ago.

Joe said it wouldn't be the same without that picture, so he did the pose.  Ha, ha, ha!  But Joe looks happier than Larry.

Everything was really good.  And there was even enough for seconds.

Even Jack enjoyed his turkey.

Of course for dessert there was pumpkin pie.  One for Joe.

And one for me.

I got some cute paper plates that we used for our dessert.  As you can see, the pie didn't last very long.

Of course, what is Thanksgiving without a Peanuts cartoon.

The only thing missing from the day was the parade.  Our local station did a good job of replacing it, but it wasn't the same.  Next year.

Before I take down all my decorations let me show them to you.  This was not a good year with all my health issues so I did not do a lot of decorating.  A lot of the things I love did not get put up.  Hopefully I will do a better job with the Christmas decorations.

I love decorating my back patio area.  This is so cute.

My new fall item this year was this cute little fall gnome.  I loved his big sunflower.

Sorry this is a little blurry.  I put the Lenox leaf candle holder by the gnome.

I put some pumpkins and sunflowers on the table by the window and on the windowsill.

I found a leaf garland which I put into the window along with a battery-powered candle that looks very real.  It even flickers.

And, of course, my beautiful autumn wreath on the front door.

I love fall so very much and I will miss it when I take things down this weekend.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I can't wait to hear all about it.

Kathy