Thanksgiving 2009

For Thanksgiving we have a few traditions...one being that we never decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving is over, either inside or outside. (So tomorrow will find me schlepping the pumpkins and corn shocks and gourds to a wheelbarrow and dumping them all and perhaps de-tangling the Christmas lights.)

Another tradition is that we use some special dishes that we only use for Thanksgiving dinner and they include these vintage pheasant glasses...

As well as these vintage ironstone dishes with the bittersweet pattern...bought by my husband while we were dating. He bought them because I was coming to his house for Thanksgiving dinner and he wanted nice dishes for us, instead of his mismatched bachelor goods.

So....we used them for our dishes as newlyweds and then, when I got new at some point, I decided that we would keep these to use always for Thanksgiving dinner. Our kids have heard the story of these dishes so many times that they can recite it to us...!

Another tradition is our Thanksgiving morning cinnamon rolls....made the night before so we can watch the parade and not worry about what's for breakfast. I can get right to dinner prep if there's no breakfast mess to worry about! Cinnamon rolls aren't that filling so I consider it a "light" breakfast, even though there's a stick of butter in the pan! (Don't tell anybody!)

Two pumpkin pies, plain with just a bit of extra ground cloves and cinnamon, with no fancy topping like nuts, served with homemade whipped cream.

Mmmm....Thanksgiving is so worth looking forward to and I find it fun to cook for it simply for the smells...they're heavenly!

Another tradition is that we clean up from dinner, and then kick off the Christmas season with an evening at a movie theater, and come back home for leftovers and pie. To kick the Christmas season off with all of us going to a Christmas movie (whenever possible), just seems right.

This year, we watched "The Blind Side" and I heartily recommend it. It's not a "Christmas" movie per se, but it did include Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays toward the beginning of the movie. I can't say enough good about this movie, if you get a chance, go see it! Guys especially love the story and Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw are the main characters and did an awesome job. Anyone who remotely loves football will love this heartwarming, true story!

Our menu is boring to some perhaps, very predictable, very traditional...

This year it was fun to look at the table and see all that we had grown ourselves in the garden, such a good feeling and we're thankful for a good year from the garden.

Oldest son....for whom I am so thankful (and he's wishing I would stop with the camera already!).

Mr. Farmhouse...I can always count on him (always, so thankful!) for help with anything I need while I'm making dinner.

Being the only girl in the house now (Jamie lives many states away!) the boys always rib me about lighting candles for special dinners. I can take the ribbing and I light the suckers up anyhow!

Son number two makes it a point to never smile for the camera if he can get away with it....thankfully today he sorta smiled.

And he makes it his business to dispense quickly with at least a half-dozen of the homemade dinner rolls, another tradition.

And we all like lots and lots of turkey, and value the leftovers for turkey sandwiches. Cooking for Thanksgiving is totally worth it just for the leftovers!

Of course, we missed Jamie and Thad today, but we'll be seeing them at Christmas time. They're always in our thoughts when we're not together on a holiday. I posted these pictures mainly so she could see that we're still doing everything the same as we always have!

What are some of YOUR Thanksgiving traditions??



And, just to keep it real......this is what I had to deal with all day long on Wednesday!!

Purty, ain't it? Real purty!

MMM.....yup, the SEPTIC TANK!

NOW PLUG YOUR NOSE...and don't toss your cookies, this is life in the country, you know! And it's NOT ALWAYS PRETTY!

I woke up Wednesday morning ready to put on an apron, turn on the radio and hum and bake and cook all day long, but the septic tank decided to BURP and man did that burp stink!

I thought, man, what in the world IS THAT? (The nose knows!) Well, my nose wouldn't leave me alone and I was all over this house sniffin' and lookin' and checkin' trash cans and dumpin' them, looked in the fridge, checked anything and everything I could think of.

Then I went in our second bathroom and WHOOOOOOOEY!!! I knew instantly.



So.....
I called my husband with the dreaded news (and thanked God that it happened on Wednesday and not TODAY!!) and he came home and uncovered it (these are the times when I'm glad I'm not the man, know what I mean??!) and hooked up the hose.

Meantime, I got ahold of the yellow pages and the septic guy got here a couple hours later (you talk about a crappy job!). Well, the nice fella with the big red tank truck with the bull painted on the back (!!!!) got half the tank done, and came to the door and said he had to go dump it (yes, he said "go dump it", really he did!) and he'd be back in several hours! Okay...

Well, he left that beautiful green hose laying on the yard until three hours later when he came back, finished the job and left. WHAT A STENCH we were blessed with while that tank lay open for four hours!!!!!! We couldn't let the dogs out and while we had no septic I couldn't finish the laundry, run the dishwasher, clean the bathrooms....practically nothing that I had on my list to do that day. So I did other chores that involved no water.

Once he left, we opened the windows and aired the house out and I got myself busy and completed a whole days' worth of work in the hours between six and one thirty in the morning.

I'm tired.

I'm thankful for indoor plumbing, I really am.

And I'm also thankful for septic service. Truly.