Thanksgiving! There are a lot of pictures here, and not all of them are in chronological order. I had an amazing time helping my wonderful Grandmother cook Thanksgiving dinner! She showed me a lot of little hints and tips on how she does things in the kitchen, and I really enjoyed spending that quality time with her. Maybe sometime within the next few years she'll be able to let go of it all and just let me do all of the cooking! I would outsource things to people (Robin!) to take some of the pressure off. I'd love to invite you to take a look into a Carter Family Thanksgiving!
Logan, Grandpa, Grandma, Zachary, Lindsey, Tristen, Melissa, Brady, Tracy, Robin, Terry, Bethany, and Jarred. The whole family together in under the same roof! The story behind this picture is hilarious because we used the camera's self timer, but also had to prop it up on the Bible to fit everyone in. I was the cameraman and the first attempt I forgot to hit the button, so we all just stood there smiling for 30 seconds. Don't we all look sharp, though?
Grandma starts preparing a few days before the day of and does a lot of the shopping a week or so before. It's a really big job! I snapped this picture just because I love the collection of things we can see here: a cookbook, car keys, Grandma's purse, the table where she sits to make her lists. I think it's beautiful.
I washed so many dishes over the course of preparing this feast! It seemed like I washed the same things over and over again. Maybe next time we'll hire a full time dishwasher?
I had a really rough time learning how to shape the bread dough into balls, and Grandma finally explained the process in simple terms. These rolls are truly a labor of love, until you've made them you have no idea how much work goes into each one.
See those little drops there? Well, those happen when the pie starts to weep. I think they're simply beautiful and Grandma hates them. I think that this is a good analogy to represent how different we are... I'm the type of person who celebrates the imperfections.
"They've got to have room to rise and double!" (I kept making my dough balls too big.)
They're so photogenic when they first come out of the oven and are covered in butter.
Beautiful.
Zachary stopped over to lend a hand and he peeled 2 sweet potatoes. Woo!
Everyone was all scrunched together because they didn't think we'd all fit in the frame. Well I had to zoom in on the picture you saw at the beginning of this post.
This couch gets used once a year. Always by Zach.
Mel made her famous cheesy potatoes and pineapple (pumpkin!) bars.
Maybe I can photoshop Grandma's eyes open?
In this one too?
Yahtzee! (Kind of.)
Oh, Brady. He looks good with long hair. I keep trying to tell him that if he cut it and got it shaped it would grow in a lot better. I used to do the angsty teenager thing!
Blog readers please meet the human garbage disposal.
Well, Jarred ruined this one.
Better!
My Shmommy! She made a killer roast.
I just love the little gap between the pie filling and the meringue.
Mel's pumpkin bars.
Lucky! (You're lucky if you get a piece.)
Apple cake. Grandma and I were on the fence about this until I finally talked her into it. She had all of the ingredients and apples that we're soon to go bad, so we went for it. The batter is so dense and chunky that it's next to impossible to stir. While it was baking we searched for a recipe for a brown sugar glaze. Jeanie Pruit's cookbook had one in it that called for Oleo. I had never heard of Oleo, and Grandma thought it was hilarious. For those of you who don't know, Oleo is apparently what the "old timers" call margarine. Who knew?
The last piece of butterscotch pie!
Lucky, Pumpkin bars, lemon meringue pie, apple cake, pumpkin pie, butterscotch pie, cheesecake.
Brussel sprouts. (Yuck.)
Thank you for your sacrifice, Tom.
I love this one!
All of the Grandkids.
We started our black Friday strategies...
More about Black Friday in my next post!
Oh hey, I'm tall.
This is the only thing my Grandmother remembers standing in line for on Black Friday. It's a Teddy Rucksbin bear. My Mom had this one as a kid and I had one as a kid. I actually still have it.
After all was said and done Mel, Tristen and I started to leave and there was some commotion at the neighbors. To make a long story short, a (almost definietly) drunk woman got stuck in my Aunt Cindy's driveway and we kind of congregated to watch the action. I cut Mel out of this picture but my arms are only so long!
I could have written a lot more, but sometimes my words and pictures don't really do an event as special as this any justice. I suppose you just had to be there, in the midst of it all to understand how special it was. On Thanksgiving day and everyday, a guy like me should count his blessings and remember how loved he is by so many amazing people.
Thanks for reading!
Logan