Recipe for a GREAT Thanksgiving

Prepare one large turkey; mashed potatoes; gravy; sweet potatoes; stuffing (2 kinds); rolls; broccoli salad; jello; green bean casserole; cranberry sauce (2 kinds- we like variety); a relish plate and of course, pies - pumpkin, pecan, apple streusel, chocolate pecan caramel, banana cream, and finally pumpkin pie cake.

Assign out individual foods and have volunteers prepare according to directions then serve to the following:
6 children under ten (5 girls and 1 boy was our mix this year), 3 teen age girls (one of ours was a BYU freshman), 4 parents and 2 grandparents. Make sure everyone eats until their buttons threaten to pop and they are just this side of miserable. (Remind them it is a good kind of miserable. ;-)
Add a Turkey Bowl football game (Paige made a touchdown, and Trevor shows his QB technique above), a trip to Locomotive Park to look at the Christmas lights, and a little apple cider pressing.

At the end of the day, just sit back and ENJOY the fruits of your labors.

Variations: Just to add a little diversity to the usual Thanksgiving dinner you could do the following
- burn the chestnuts for the stuffing, discard when you realize they are totally unusable.
- dump the graham cracker crust all the way out of the pan so it too is totally useless for the caramel pecan chocolate pie.
- split the end out of the bag you cook the turkey in just as you are putting it in the roasting pan. This will be an even better thing if you don't have an extra bag and have to figure out how to use the broken one.
- decide at the last minute to make the green bean casserole and as you are moving it around to make more room in the oven for other side dishes, dump it out in the oven. Just scoop it back into the baking dish and continue heating.
- when you are checking to see if the pecan pie (also a last minute entry) is done, dump half of the warm sugar/egg/corn syrup mixture out of the flimsy pie pan you used and make sure it goes all over the bottom and all 3 racks of your oven. This is guaranteed to make the head cook dissolve into uncontrollable laughter even though she is trying to talk to her daughter in Texas and in the end has to hang up because she can't get a hold of herself. (Heather, if you are reading this, I burst into laughter again every time I think about this. It is truly one of my favorite Thanksgiving memories! You can check a pecan pie at my house anytime! :-)

All of the above variations were employed during this Thanksgiving, and it was one of the best!We were lucky to have Chelsie home from college and grateful that Heather, Eric and their 4 very cute girls could bring her up. You can see she is demonstrating her new technique for fixing jello. She must have learned that at BYU.

Rudy, the dachshund puppy also came and although he still has a little bit to learn, he did a good job supplying us with a puppy fix and we are glad he came too. (Sorry we ended on a bad note, Rudy. Things just kept piling up! :-) We'll make up next time we see each other.) Grandma and Grandpa Rietz rounded out the guest list.

The weekend was great and also included various DVDs, a really corny dog movie at the dollar theater, a home improvement project (Thanks Eric), and lots of cousin playing time. Chelsie was able to hang out with Allison and a few other High School friends and they finally got to see "Twilight". Heather and I made lists of books to read and DVDs to watch, Amber was amazing with the younger kids, and the cider pressing was fast and sticky but enjoyed by all who helped. Hayley and Kristin test the fruits of their labors below.


Dana displays her Apple Turkey and Charlotte concentrates to get just the right combo of marshmallows and raisins for the feathers.

Mom and daughter ping pong was fun, and making cookies with Chelsie gave us a little one on one time. The rain dampened Eric's hopes for some r & r time on a mountain bike, but he muddled through and got a little time in on my bike which he was a very good sport about.

Now the company is all gone and we are left here to just wish they hadn't left, but know we have to get ready for our week and all the things that are in store for us in the coming weeks - not the least which include Christmas and a NEW BABY! Here's to a Christmas season in which we celebrate the birth of the Savior and don't get overwhelmed by the hype and hullabaloo of the commercial side of things. I wish the same to each of you.On a personal note - it seems appropriate that a person who is on the brink of Grandma hood should have to keep celebrating birthdays, and such was the case with me this month. You can't see the number the candles made on my brownies so if you don't know, you don't need to know. Just know this, my arms are too short, and my hair appts. are not close enough together. I have a great life none the less. Come on Grand baby! Your quilt is almost done, I can't wait for you to get here!!!