Thanksgiving #2

I can't remember if I've shared that we generally spend Thanksgiving in TX with my in-laws. It's the only time the husband's entire family--his bro and sis and their spouses and kids, his parents, and us--are together. We haven't gone the last two years because last year the baby was only a week old, and the year before that my best friend was getting married in Vegas a week later, and those trips were too close together. The last time we went, the boy was only nine months old, so I did look forward to our trip to see everyone and for them to meet the baby, but I was going to miss my family's Thanksgiving dinner.

The first time I went along (prior to getting married we always spent Thanksgiving apart) I had a really hard time because I LOVE Thanksgiving and had never spent it away from my family...which also meant I'd had the same Thanksgiving dinner for 27 years at that point. I'm a girl that does not like change, so not having my grandma's dressing, special cranberry salad, and other random dishes I'd come to know, expect, and love at Thanksgiving was difficult. I made it through and even lived to tell about it. The dinner my mother-in-law makes is very good, it's just not what I'm used to. My friend Jen B. is in a similar predicament every year in that they spend Thanksgiving with her in-laws who also have a dinner that's completely different than what she grew up with.

This year when I was looking at grocery ads around Thanksgiving I thought about buying a turkey to stick in the freezer while they were so cheap. I wasn't really sure why because the husband isn't a big fan of turkey, but they were SO CHEAP.

Then it hit me...we could have a SECOND Thanksgiving!! I asked Jen what she thought, and she was on board right away. So we are making our favorite Thanksgiving dishes that we don't get to have when we have dinner with our in-laws. I'm beyond excited!! It's going to be quite the feast. The turkey is in the oven now, and I did a bunch of prep work last night to get things ready. Thankfully most of the recipes I'm making are online or typed out already, so it will be easy to add them to the blog here.

Right now, though, I need to get my kids to take naps, but my Thanksgiving #2 recipes will be coming!!