Thanks to the Getting Ahead for the Holidays series, I was super motivated and had all the food cooked for Thanksgiving by Tuesday night. I did this so I could enjoy the holiday. As it turned out, I appreciated it even more because I came down with a cold on Tuesday night. Booooooo. I was so frustrated!!!
All day Wednesday I sat in my recliner blowing my nose, trying not to talk, watching Netflix, and being thankful I did not have to cook. I prayed that I’d be able to enjoy Thanksgiving. I took a bath with Epsom salt and essential oils. I drank hot tea by the gallon. I rested.
Thank you, Lord, for make-ahead meals – especially a make-ahead Thanksgiving meal.
Come Thursday morning, I was slightly better, though quite stuffy and low on energy. Matt and the boys cleared out the living room and set up tables and chairs. Brittany worked her magic to decorate. I worked on warming up the prepared food.
My mashed potatoes (which had been prepared and frozen) turned into soup on my crock pot. Now that wasn’t supposed to happen.
I transferred them to a pot on the stove to steam off some of the liquid. It took about 30 minutes, but it worked great! Below, you’ll see that while I was sick, I wasn’t too sick to take an ugly picture of mashed potatoes steaming in a pot for you. Now that is blogger dedication.
Meanwhile, all the other dishes sat warming in the oven. It took longer than I had planned. The more you load your oven, the longer food takes to heat up. Imagine that.
I helped myself to another cup of hot tea while the food heated and we waited for our guests to arrive. We had super icy weather that day (still do, actually), so a few of our guests weren’t able to make it. :(
When it was all said and done the tables were beautiful, the food was delicious, and we had a wonderful time with all our guests. If you look closely, you’ll see that I cheated and used rolls I had bought from Bountiful Baskets.
What you see there in that 9×13 pan is my friend Maureen’s famous Pumpkin Bars. I need the recipe. We all need the recipe. Maureen? We need the recipe. ;)
Since Thanksgiving day, we’ve eaten more delicious food, watched a couple of movies, and played a 6-hour game of Settlers of Catan. Only the Coppinger family can make Catan last 6-hours. In our defense, we had added several variables, which always adds time – even if you aren’t a Coppinger. But let’s just say that some of the people in this family are verrrry thorrrrrough with their turns. (Don’t look at me. I am a short turn-taker.)
Kleenexes and sore throat aside, this has been an awesome week of Thanksgiving break. Tonight we’re having Lasagna, tomorrow we’re having a new soup recipe Brittany and I came up with, and tomorrow night Asa and Brittany move back to the dorms. School commences, along with all the normal real-life stuff like work and chores. Ooh, but it’s Christmas season, so there is much to look forward to!
