We had our first Thanksgiving alone with no kids this year
and lo and behold - we survived. I think my monthly trips to see everyone in the NW has helped. I cooked and Louie actually worked a day shift and made it home in time to eat at 6:30 pm !! I have been reading about Heritage turkeys this year and had to try one. I called it my 'organic, free range, heritage, flying turkey'. Yes Virginia, turkeys can fly. Not far or high but they can fly. The Heritage birds are raised on open fields and glean what they eat from the field not from bagged grains. It is healthier and the birds are what turkeys used to be. The ones in the mass turkey farms are injected with growth hormones and antibiotics and are raised for wide breasts which is the white meat - but they are so out of proportion that they can't even have a good time before they die. Poor things. The heritage birds get to have a good ti
me and are treated very well all through life and when they are put down. I eat meat so the least I can do is buy and support farms that do it the right way. I also froze brioche bread I got on my last trip to Seattle and made the stuffing with that and Italian sweet sausage, mushrooms, fresh herbs from my garden, dried cranberries and organic celery and onion. I added the cursory mashed potatoes with Parmesan and cheddar cheese, and creamed spinach. I bought the fresh cranberry/mango sauce but it was super. We had a terrific dinner and we had enough food to last this whole week - I have one more meal left of the white meat and plan to do open faced turkey/cheese sauce sandwiches. Yum.
We had four days off this past weekend and I was so busy. I cleaned the house and did tons of laundry - at least it's still warm enough outside to dry the clothes but it takes a bit longer now. I went through all the closets and purged - 8 bags worth of purging - with clothes and old Christmas mistakes going to a favorite charity. I was then ready to get started on decorating. I keep promising it will be less this year that in years past and so far so good. No lights on the house per se - but I did put up a wooden Santa and lighted tree - we also have a small doe that is lit and this year I added multi colored glass balls to the inside hollow. I saw it d
one at a shop we go to in Snohomish and tried it at home. It looks so cute! I did white fairy lights on the small bushes too - so the side yard is well lit for the holidays. We have a double gate where I hang 2 plain green wreaths with red bows and cow bells. If someone else wants to add white fairy lights to the trees in the side yard they can, but I'm done outside. I came home from Seattle with all kinds of Christmas stuff and put it all through the house. I'm painting ornaments, and have some paper stars to make, plus I sewed new tree skirts for us and for Reyna and her family. We plan to contribute to charity this year and keep the gift giving to handmade items. Keep it simple and try to have less stress and more fun.
and lo and behold - we survived. I think my monthly trips to see everyone in the NW has helped. I cooked and Louie actually worked a day shift and made it home in time to eat at 6:30 pm !! I have been reading about Heritage turkeys this year and had to try one. I called it my 'organic, free range, heritage, flying turkey'. Yes Virginia, turkeys can fly. Not far or high but they can fly. The Heritage birds are raised on open fields and glean what they eat from the field not from bagged grains. It is healthier and the birds are what turkeys used to be. The ones in the mass turkey farms are injected with growth hormones and antibiotics and are raised for wide breasts which is the white meat - but they are so out of proportion that they can't even have a good time before they die. Poor things. The heritage birds get to have a good ti
me and are treated very well all through life and when they are put down. I eat meat so the least I can do is buy and support farms that do it the right way. I also froze brioche bread I got on my last trip to Seattle and made the stuffing with that and Italian sweet sausage, mushrooms, fresh herbs from my garden, dried cranberries and organic celery and onion. I added the cursory mashed potatoes with Parmesan and cheddar cheese, and creamed spinach. I bought the fresh cranberry/mango sauce but it was super. We had a terrific dinner and we had enough food to last this whole week - I have one more meal left of the white meat and plan to do open faced turkey/cheese sauce sandwiches. Yum.
We had four days off this past weekend and I was so busy. I cleaned the house and did tons of laundry - at least it's still warm enough outside to dry the clothes but it takes a bit longer now. I went through all the closets and purged - 8 bags worth of purging - with clothes and old Christmas mistakes going to a favorite charity. I was then ready to get started on decorating. I keep promising it will be less this year that in years past and so far so good. No lights on the house per se - but I did put up a wooden Santa and lighted tree - we also have a small doe that is lit and this year I added multi colored glass balls to the inside hollow. I saw it d
one at a shop we go to in Snohomish and tried it at home. It looks so cute! I did white fairy lights on the small bushes too - so the side yard is well lit for the holidays. We have a double gate where I hang 2 plain green wreaths with red bows and cow bells. If someone else wants to add white fairy lights to the trees in the side yard they can, but I'm done outside. I came home from Seattle with all kinds of Christmas stuff and put it all through the house. I'm painting ornaments, and have some paper stars to make, plus I sewed new tree skirts for us and for Reyna and her family. We plan to contribute to charity this year and keep the gift giving to handmade items. Keep it simple and try to have less stress and more fun. I will go to Seattle again December 13th for 4-5 days. I can celebrate Christmas with the kids then. We plan to take Elsie Quinn for her first carriage ride and then the carousel plus all the lights up 5th Avenue and the store windows. It will be so much fun.She seems to love the trees and lights. They put their tree up this past weekend and Elsie was quite a big help. We should try to make some cookies and decorate them too. It will be wonderful being up home for some holiday cheer.
The big trip is in January when Atticus comes out to join this crazy bunch of people we call family. They have decided on Atticus Ryan Ronald and we all gave a cheer. They picked another great name. Elsie Quinn and Atticus Ryan. Wow. 
Reyna called last night excited about snow falling. Here, we're just glad the temps have finally cooled off to the mid 70's with nights in the 40's and 50's. I thought for a while I'd have Christmas in shorts on the deck because we were hot up until Thanksgiving. For the past week we're doing much better. It's actually chilly in the morning! If it continues to cool down we can actually have a live tree again this year. With it hot outside the poor tree would die in a couple of days of 90 degree heat.Thank heaven. Louie would hold his breath and turn blue without a live tree. We all have our holiday "thing" I guess.
Wishing you all a wonderful pre-holiday season!
Love to all
Hannah
Dreaming in Colors and hoping for snow...
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