Thanksgiving x 2

Yes, you read the title of this blog correctly; this post is about our Thanksgiving x 2. We celebrated the "Day of Thanks" on two separate occasions; once here at our house, the Sunday before Turkey Day... we hosted Spencer's entire family!

Here's a look @ the spread and company.

Our table for 8 wasn't big enough for all 14 people...
some guests got the boot & had to eat at the island.

The grub...
olives, french green beans with almonds & bacon, asparagus with prosciutto, croissants and rolls with honey butter, cheese, cauliflower potato cream soup, roasted butternut squash soup; mashed potatoes with yams, spinach salad, TURKEY and gravy, stuffing (with and without gluten), homemade cranberry sauce, gluten free ooey gooey pumpkin bars, eggnog cake and pumpkin spice cake
(we opted for cakes this year in place of pie; Spencer's birthday was the day prior to our celebration so the eggnog cake was for him...
it's his personal favorite)!
Thanksgiving 's just not one of those days you skimp on the food or tradition;
(Spencer suggested we skip making the meal this year & just go out to eat @ Chuck o'Rama! YuCk!)
I like to go all OUT,
even if it means half the food I present isn't food I "normally" like to eat... ie. cranberry sauce, turkey, yams.

Okay, so don't mind my dirty oven...
(honestly I didn't know it was this dirty until I saw this picture)
but here's a picture of THE BIRD enclosed in it's Reynolds Roasting Bag.

Like I said before,
I don't normally like to eat turkey,
but Thanksgiving is just one of those days I make an exception.
The bird was delish!
Moist with just enough flavor; all thanks in part to the fabulous Reynolds Turkey Roasting Bags
and my sister Trish's recipe she passed onto me years ago...
it's a Chilean recipe she got from her sister in law's father...
slop up the bird with lots of olive oil, salt, oregano, chopped garlic, lemon pepper, apple cider vinegar, chicken bullion, then stuff it with apples and quartered onions, garlic cloves
and inject it all over with orange juice
(injecting the bird with the orange juice was probably the ONLY part of preparing the bird I enjoyed doing;
for a minute there I felt like Dr Ray from Dr 90210 giving it shots of botox to plump it up)...
anyhow, that's the gist of things- how I prepare the bird;
I'm sure I failed to mention a few of the key ingredients...
this was my 5TH Thanksgiving preparing the turkey...
I have to say, it gets MUCH easier each year that I do it...
it also helps that this bird was only 16 pounds and not 22 like years in past
(16 was the BIGGEST I could find @ Costco this year;
I think this recession thing has taken a bit of a toll on the country's turkeys this year too!);
I found myself wondering how many more times I'll have the privilege
of making the turkey during my lifetime...
10, 20, 45, 70???!!!

Some people like to have fridge full of Thanksgiving leftovers... NOT ME!
I was relieved to see that this bird got picked pretty much bare to the bone!

The boys, MY BOYS,didn't appreciate the meal as much as others did...
they bothered only to eat their dessert... of course!Our company hung around after the meal to enjoy some good conversation;
somehow the conversation ALWAYS ends up being about teaching or politics...
those are two subjects the Campbell's LOVE to discuss;
this particular shot was taken during a discussion about teaching;
take notice that Megan (who is an experienced grade school teacher)
& Spencer (a student currently pursuing his Masters degree in Education) are both speaking at the SAME time;
if you're gonna be part of this family you better be loud, speak fast and get right to the point otherwise shut up and keep your opinion to yourself (as I do a lot of the time).
This picture is classic!
Campbell family dinner discussions. Gotta love them!

This is another picture taken after the feast... no need for an explanation.

Okay I lied! I'll explain the obvious...
our guests stuck around a few hours after the meal
to play games, entertain the boys and lounge in our living room
on the comfiest furniture known to man; the Luv Sac & our down feather leather sofa.

Good company + good food= GREAT DAY

We celebrated Thanksgiving again on the actual holiday. We chose to all sleep in, watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in bed with all the boys and we didn't shower or get dressed till noon. It was a perfectly LAZY morning! My parents were in town from San Diego visiting; this time around I lucked out of hosting the meal and instead, we packed up the boys in the car and drove up north to my sister Celeste's house in Kaysville. She was kind enough to invite all of us (my fam, Trish's fam and my parents... 16 kids & 8 adults) to eat with them.

They prepared a real FANCY feast...and I'll be completely honest, any meal that Celeste or Jim (her husband, my brother in law) have made is DIVINELY DELISH!!! They know how to cook!

Here's a look at some of the spread... and the man who prepared a lot of the food, Jim!Spencer start taking tips on cooking from Jim please...
if you could have dinner ready every day by 6 pm it would be much appreciated.
I'm just saying... wink.wink.

Norman Rockwell painted this classic picture of a family gathered at their dinner table for Thanksgiving..

that's 11 people at one table!
Are dinner tables really that big any more?!
Our gang is so big, we have to disperse to multiple tables.
Please note after looking carefully at the picture,
that Spencer found his place sitting at the "kiddie table" with kids 5 and under.Cohen was SUPER excited to see Tricia!
Ever since his week long stay with her last summer while Spencer and were away in Hawaii,
Cohen has thought of Tricia as his second MOM!

In fact, I'm pretty sure 3 out of 5 times, if he had to choose between me and her, he'd choose her! The following is just a cute picture of Ian that was taken while at Celeste's house...
aren't his eyes just gorgeous?!
Between his piercing blue eyes and his super cute dimples (not pictured here)
he's gonna be a real hunk when he grows older!

We really enjoyed ourselves Thanksgiving Day while in the company of my family; the boys LOVED playing with their cousins while I treasured the opportunity to hang with my folks and chat with my sisters.

That same evening, after we helped put away leftovers and tidy up the kitchen and dinner tables, Spencer and all the guys went to the Jazz Basketball game in Salt Late while I went with the girls in my family to the movies to watch "Old Dogs".

I am thankful for many things in life that my Heavenly Father has provided me, namely my family; my husband Spencer, my boys, my parents, my grandparents, my sisters, my brother, my nieces and nephews and all my in laws... nothing means more to me in this world than they do and I am thankful for time spent and memories I've made with them!