The Days AfterThe Turkey.....

While I love the leftovers more than the actual meal, I have now reached a turkey infinity.  There were the sandwiches, the soup, the "oh my gosh, is there really turkey in this?" Frankly, I am done for a while.  On Saturday, we went to a tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree.  We love doing this as a family.  This year, the farm we usually go to has become exhausted.  The trees that are there are not quite large enough yet.  So, off to the new location,with only spruce trees.(only like blue spruce outside).  These are so prickly, I am worried about the injuries when I go to decorate it.  I had to compromise this year, since the family tells me I always have the final say on the tree.  I stepped back and they chose the one they all agreed on.  It's not like I didn't try to get my way, but I don't want to be the GRINCH! We had a really nice day, and then went out for dinner at The Black Horse in Mendam.  The weekend went by so fast.  We did not do any Christmas shopping yet, we think it's crazy how the stores are open at all hours.

Thanksgiving Traditions

One of my favorite holidays is Thanksgiving.  I always go to my sister's house for a delicious dinner.  We have a wonderful time, all of my siblings and their families are there too.  As our families grew, Christmas gift giving got to be extremely expensive.  We then decided to just give to the children.  That too got a little out of hand.  Since I come from a rather large family of five siblings, when we were younger we would put our names in a bowl and each pick one and only buy a gift for that person.  The first year was strange, but after we got used to it, we found it really fun to keep it a secret who we had and it allowed us to give something nice for that one person.  Now, we have passed that tradition on to our children.  

At Thanksgiving, the kids really look forward to picking the names, usually during dessert time.  They all love doing this every year.  It makes Christmas day at my house all the more special to watch the children pull out the gifts they have chosen and wrapped for their cousins or siblings and the delight of giving to one another.  It doesn't take a bunch of gifts or a whole lot of money to make special times and memories for families.  Actually, having to be creative usually means the outcome is much more special and memorable.  That is one of my favorite things to do on Thanksgiving.  

My most favorite thing to do the day after is make my famous hot turkey, sweet potato, stuffing and gravy sandwich with cranberry sauce.  I make an entire Thanksgiving dinner for leftovers at my house every year on Wednesday, the day before.  There are never enough leftovers from my sister's house to divide up, so this works well.  Can't wait!!