Woooosh

That is how I feel the time is going. I've sat down a couple of times to blog and there is always some emergency. I was reading the draft I started after Thanksgiving, but now that seems like ancient history. We did have a fantastic time. All 14 of us (not to mention my brother's dog Brookie) enjoyed a ton of great food and lots of good visiting. It was nice to have our friends the Zimmermans come down. Everyone had a 'buddy' so it was very fun.
I think my favorite part of the dinner, was the gravy. I feel the gravy can make or break the dinner. (One year we went to a friend's house for Thanksgiving and the gravy was sooo bad. We still shudder... Maybe I'm old fashioned or a bit of a gravy snob, but gravy is made from turkey drippings, not liquefied leeks.) Anyhoo, I roasted some veggies in the pan with the turkey and I think they really added a nice flavor. Usually a poultry gravy is kind of on the lighter side of brown. This gravy was so rich and dark you might think it was a beef gravy if you didn't know better. It was soo good. I'm definitely roasting veggies again next year. I also brined the bird. If you have never brined a bird, totally worth it. Spend the 60 seconds to fill a bucket with water and throw in a couple of cups of salt and sugar. The turkey comes out so moist. Even the leftovers were moist.
We spent most of Friday in comas on the couch. NO 4am shopping for us. We are pretty small scale Christmas folks when it comes to gifts. Ben's birthday is the 21st so we do a big birthday and then Christmas can be scaled back. I was kind of worried about a birthday so close to Christmas, but it has worked out nicely for our family.
Once the turkey was out of our systems, Joji and I took the plunge and painted our room. We have lived in the house 4 1/2 years and our room is so neglected. When I find the camera I will post the befores and afters.
:0)