The Day Before...

It's the day before Thanksgiving and all through the house, not a creature is stirring, not even Colin. ;-) It is 2:15 in the afternoon and I have been cooking since the moment we woke up this morning! Jeremy and Colin just fell asleep in our bed so I decided to take a break, be quiet, and post a little update. My plan is going along GREAT so far! We put up all the Christmas decorations on Sunday and I did all the grocery shopping on Monday. We cleaned yesterday AND my wonderful husband put up the lights around the roof!! We all had a blast outside...Colin "helped" and I hung the twinkle lights in the bushes and helped Jer avoid falling off the ladder. We checked them out last night and it looks BEAUTIFUL!! There is nothing that I love more than a house lit up with lights!

This morning, I got things rolling by making the cranberry dish and both chocolate pies (with the exception of baking the meringue, which I will wait and do tomorrow before serving). Then I knocked out the regular and sweet potato dishes. I completed both of those up until the point of baking, which I will do tomorrow. As it stands so far, I am on target for each dish only needing to be popped in the oven. Thank heavens I planned ahead...I had no idea how long it would take for me to make all of this food! This is an all-day project for sure! Taking care of everything early has allowed me to really enjoy the day...we have been listening to Christmas music and having a blast. Jer ran out for a couple of gallons of iced tea and ice for the cooler, so all of that is ready to go. When Colin wakes up from his nap, I will start on round two of cooking...I need to make the stuffing, green bean casserole and gravy (all of which I can complete the majority of now and bake/heat tomorrow). Tonight I will dress the turkey to have standing by first thing in the morning and lay out all the other stuff, like place settings and last minute details.

I know these are probably the most boring posts in the world to read, but I want to document everything from my very first holiday hosting gig! :-)

The Thanksgiving Menu

This post is just for Dana...and anyone else that is just dying to know what I will be serving on the big day! ;-)

Roasted Herb Turkey: I bought a 14 pounder this morning...it is clearly the largest thing that I have ever tried to cook, but I am still hoping for greatness!
Homemade Gravy
Cornbread Stuffing with Apples and Sausage
Sweet Potatoes with Pecan Marshmallow Strudel
Green Bean Casserole (from scratch with fresh beans, no soup)
Baked Parmesan Mashed Potatoes
Cranberry Fruit Conserve (over the top name for homemade cranberry sauce)
Rolls (NOT from scratch...gotta draw the line somewhere!)
Chocolate Pies!! (I am only making two because I have TWO pie plates. There will probably be a battle for possession)

This menu is rather carb heavy, but what can I say...it's a special occasion! Jer's mom is making several appetizers and her pumpkin pie. Mert is bringing the sausage balls for breakfast. Good lord, we are going to have a ton of food. Have I mentioned how much I love a holiday that is centered around food?!? I got all the grocery shopping done today, with the exception of a liquor store run later today and any trips back to the store for things that I messed up or forgot. Example...Colin has already broken into the bag of marshmallows. I knew that I should have bought two! :-)

The Countdown Begins!

Today is the Saturday before Thanksgiving and I am getting really excited for the week ahead! This is the last day that Jer has to work, so I feel like the fun is really about to start! I have my shopping list typed up (in categories, no less!) the menu completely planned and the schedule in place. Tomorrow is decorating day, since Jer will be off work and will have no more excuses for helping me get everything down from the attic. :-) Monday is shopping day and my plan is to go bright and early while Jer stays home with Colin so that I can knock it all out with minimal crowd interference. Tuesday is cleaning in preparation for our guests and Wednesday is COOKING! Absolutely all the prep and every bit of cooking possibly done ahead of time is scheduled for Wednesday...including the all-important chocolate pies. I will have the turkey thawed, dressed and ready to go in the fridge on Wednesday night so that it can go into the oven before the sun comes up on Thursday morning. That will keep me from waking Colin up while trying to cook at the crack of dawn and also allow for the turkey to be done nice and early so that I have time to bake everything else in my single oven. I am actually not stressed at all about the turkey, which is what seems to worry everyone else. I roast a lot of chicken, so I am used to the process and it does not frighten me at all. Those may be famous last words, I am well aware. :-) I am more stressed about all my other dishes and making sure that everything is hot and ready to serve at the same time. I keep trying to remember the little things now...like the rolls (which I almost forgot to put on the list) and the iced tea (which my mom had to remind me of!). My other stress is my appearance, silly as it sounds. My mother wants to take a picture with the whole family for her Christmas cards since we have been unable to all be in the same place before this. I really don't see time in my day to primp, so I think I may have to add washing and fixing my hair to my "night before" list. So to those of you who get cards from my parents, I am sorry in advance for looking disheveled. :-)



Despite how stressful the whole thing sounds, I am so excited! I am having a blast putting all of this together and I feel as though I have been working on my "masterpiece". I have dreamed about doing something like this since I was a little girl watching my mom do it and I can't believe that my time has come. It will come as little surprise to those who know me well that we are holiday nuts in my family and I am giddy with the arrival of the season. Christmas decorations are showing up everywhere, the Christmas station is going full blast on the radio, and I am in Chalna heaven! I am all geared up for our classic Thanksgiving morning of watching the Macy's Parade, eating sausage balls and drinking coffee while the men complain that we are forcing them to watch the parade. I am thrilled to have two little boys running around like mad men, far too many people squeezed in my tiny house, my dad doubtlessly complaining about the fat in my menu and the ongoing cholesterol problem in the United States, and just all the fun and excitement. ;-)



We shall see how I feel the morning after. hehehe!

A Wedding Weekend!

We had a VERY busy week last week and things are not slowing down a bit! It amazes me how fast the time between Halloween and Christmas goes by...this year seems to be even faster than most! It seems as though we have something planned for every waking moment between now and December 25th! We went to Tyler last weekend for Cam and Lilli's wedding and we had the most wonderful time! The location was a stunning bed and breakfast hidden in the woods of East Texas, complete with outdoor English garden covered in twinkling lights! It was so beautiful, in fact, that I spent the better part of the weekend trying to figure out a reason to throw my own party out there! The wedding did not disappoint as I cried my way through the ceremony for various reasons. :-) My old pastor from childhood officiated the ceremony, which was a beautiful surprise. He is LONG ago retired, so hearing his voice was something special to say the least. I did not even recognize him by sight...it was the sound of his voice that caught me up short. Afterwards, there was dinner, drinks and dancing with tons of old friends...it was like time had stood still...some folks I had not seen since high school! We laughed and played like we were still 18 years old! That might be a bit of an overstatement considering that we all kept calling home to check on our kids and I stopped drinking after two glasses of wine to avoid a headache. :-) At least we had a great time for a group of 30-somethings. HA! Lilli and Cam also had what I consider one of the BEST ideas ever at the reception...the whole crowd was invited out on the front lawn once it got dark and every couple was given a huge paper lantern and a lighter. Everyone lit the bottom and held them up to gather hot air. As soon as they started to pull away, we all let go and dozens and dozens of these glowing lanterns floated away into the night sky! It was a precious moment and one I will not soon forget...all of the people that I have known for decades standing outside together under the glowing lights...it was amazing! Jer took a video of it...it is a bit long, but you can watch it here:



The night was especially wonderful because my parents kept Colin for us. I found out that while we were there, they packed him up and took him shopping for Christmas trees at Hobby Lobby and then for dinner at Chick-Fil-A. Apparently, he was beside himself over the decorations at the store and had the best time helping my parents pick out a new tree. At dinner, he got not only his favorite kids meal, but he also had a brownie AND an ice cream cone! It is little wonder that he keeps asking to "Go Mimi and Duke's house!". :-) It felt so good to be out and about and to find out that Colin had such a special night with his grandparents at the same time made it even better! We are home now and I am officially knee deep in Thanksgiving prep, not to mention working on getting Christmas cards done and decorations up! Whew! Here are some pictures from our weekend:

These two are Colin making a HUGE MESS with blueberries at his grandparents house. He adores eating Duke's blueberries above all things! Look at that face!! :-)



This one is of my sweet friend Nick...I have known him since we were...14? A LONG TIME! I have adored him forever! His son is Colin's age and was the ring bearer...so cute!

Hugging the beautiful bride, Lilli...she was breathtaking! We lived together in college with Sarah and Megan...four girls in what we called "the big house". It was more than a little crazy. :-)

Sarah and Nathan...two of my oldest friends. It was SO AMAZING to all be together in one place!

hugging the handsome groom, Cameron! Nathan, Cameron, myself and Sarah used to refer to ourselves as "NaChalSaCam". We were BEST FRIENDS and it brought me to tears to see him get married. I have endless of stories about this hilarious man...I am so happy that he found his soul mate!

A shot that Jer snagged during the ceremony...it was stunning. That is Brother Johnny officiating...we have family pictures with him when I was probably 5 years old!

Mom and Dad looking good! :-) All dressed up and ready to go!

The Hostess with the Mostest!

There is a lot going on this week in my house...namely, planning Thanksgiving! For the first time in my life, I am actually hosting a major holiday in MY HOUSE. Jer and I decided a couple of months ago that we wanted to give it a shot, especially since I love to cook so much and have always wanted to give the big meal a try. At the time, I did not give it a second thought, but I am definitely starting to get nervous now that mid-November is already here!! It is an "excited" sort of nervous and I have hunkered down to finish the official menu and get my game plan finalized. There will be nine adults, two kids and one tiny baby in attendance. :-) I am making a master schedule so that I am certain every dish will be prepared in time, particularly because I only have one oven that is in charge of MANY tasks! I plan to prep absolutely everything ahead of time and make everything possible the day before so that I can just pop things in and out of the oven to bake on the big day. The hardest part for me is finalizing the menu. I have a ton of things that I want to cook and I change my mind literally every hour. I think that I am close to being done with the big decisions and my goal for tonight is to get my schedule completed. I am even scheduling decorating, cleaning, shopping, prepping...the whole nine yards. Hopefully it will run like a well oiled machine. I think we all know that it will probably be the opposite and turn into a very amusing blog post for the day after! I have a small house which means that most of us will be eating on borrowed card tables, the kitchen counter and the coffee table. However, I can't think of anything more fun than having all the people I love crammed in my house on what I consider one of the top two days of the year. :-)

This weekend is going to be a blast because two of my favorite people are getting married! One of my all-time very VERY best friends, Cameron, is marrying Lilli, who just happens to be one of my college roommates and all around favorite people ever. The wedding is in East Texas, so we are heading to Tyler for the weekend...my parents are going to watch Colin on Saturday night so that Jer and I can go to the wedding without a two year old, which is extremely exciting! This is a very busy month, but certainly one that is filled with joy!!

LOVE

I love Colin. I really really really love him. I love him in a way that transcends words. This is a rather obvious point, but one I feel like making regardless.

He is the sweetest little boy that I have ever known. Last night, he made Jer and I sit on the kitchen floor and play cars for the longest time. He would crouch down with a car in each hand and announce, "On your mark, get set, GOOOO!" and then shoot both cars across the kitchen to us. He peppered the conversation with things like, "Ooo, cars FAST!" and "This one REALLY fast!" and "Mommy and Daddy race cars!". Every now and then, it hits me like a ton of bricks that I no longer have an infant, but a car racing little boy. I don't know how long it takes for that feeling of shock to wear off, because I still get it all the time. He now races to the door when Jer gets home from work and says "Daddy! I so glad to see you!". When we read books, he will point out a character eating and say, "Colin can't eat that. Just a picture". He is incredibly polite, especially for a two year old. He says "excuse me" when the cat jumps in front of the television or when he needs to pass by someone at the park. He does not have to be told to say thank you, he does it on his own most of the time. If he asks for juice and I hand it to him, he says "tank you, Mommy!" in the most cheerful little voice. Before I became a mother, I never thought about what kind of personality my child would have. Now it is a source of never ending wonder for me...watching him and learning all the little things that make him Colin. He is sweet, sensitive, silly, and rambunctious.


He shocked me this morning at the park...we were walking down a path and Colin started to run into a very wooded area that lord knows what was growing in. I said, "Colin, no! We can't go in there! There might be scary stuff that we can't see!". I don't know why I used the word "scary", it just flew out. Colin immediately came back to my side and started to visibly shake, so much that it frankly startled me! I got down on his level and asked if he was okay, thinking something was really wrong. He said, "scary, Mommy!! help! I scared!". I felt so badly and tried to explain that I had used the wrong word and that the woods were not scary, just not for play. It did not exactly work and I was reminded how much he retains that I don't even realize. He knew what the word scary meant and I will remember not to use it lightly from now on! He constantly asks me what, why, and where things are. During the same park trip this morning, he saw a little boy playing with his cars which were identical to some that Colin has. He informed me that "Colin can't have cars. Those cars not Colin's". I was so impressed that he pointed that out all by himself and did not get upset. He just left the other little boy at play and went off to something else. He is a very cuddly boy who does not really like to play by himself. He always says, "Mommy, come sit!" and makes me do whatever he is doing. This does not lead to getting very much done during my days with him, but it does not bother me in the least. He still wants "Mommy hold you" (in other words, pick him up) and does not care that he is far too heavy to be carried. He likes for me to sit Indian style on the floor so that he can sit in my lap while he plays or watches TV.


I love this age. I do have moments where I miss eating out and wish he was more of an independent player. It can't be understated how much work a two year old is, but I adore him at this stage regardless. I don't ever want to forget what an adorable little baby bear he is right now! I am so lucky to be his mother.

These pictures are from today...this one sums up life with a 27 month old...running. :-)

I think the jeans make him look so much older!

First thing this morning...I went to make him breakfast and came back to find him in this position in the office. There is nothing better than Colin in pj's with fuzzy bed head. Cool Cat Hot Dog is one of his all time favorite books.

Halloween!

Halloween was on Saturday and I cannot believe that it is already over and November is upon us! We had an interesting holiday this year with some highs and lows...it all started a couple of weeks ago when I tried to put Colin's Spiderman costume on and he refused to go for it. He asked specifically to be Spiderman but for whatever reason, he seemed almost frightened to wear it. I bought his black skeleton t-shirt on a whim at Gymboree a couple of weeks ago on sale, so he wore that to the first Halloween party of the season. I hoped that with time his real costume would grow on him, but that was NOT the case. As we prepared for the big night on Saturday, I tried in earnest to put it on, but he had a screaming fit over it complete with back arching and hysterics. I even brought the costume along to the trick-or-treat party, but he flipped out again at the sight of it and I finally threw in the towel. Colin was a skeleton (sort of) with a spiderman bag for Halloween. I am very thankful that I purchased the t-shirt and really thankful that I bought the $23 costume instead of the expensive astronaut costume that I really wanted. I think I would have taken it a lot worse if I had spent a fortune. ;-) Halloween was also a little sad for us because Jer had to work on the big night and was forced to miss trick-or-treating. Luckily Colin is still too young to really know that Daddy missed something important and everything was fine, but I missed him a LOT. I don't like to spend holidays of any kind without Jeremy and it certainly dampened my spirits.


We were invited to a fabulous party at Dana and David's house and it was an absolute BLAST! There were around 6 two year olds and a couple of cute babies in the mix and we had a little feast before taking all the kids around their neighborhood to trick-or-treat. Dana throws a great party...her decorations were ADORABLE and there was a ton of yummy stuff to eat. Colin was also very pleased to take apart Gabby's playroom and go crazy with all her toys! He was not his normal self for a good portion of the party simply because he gets pretty easily overwhelmed in a new environment with all new people. He was at a new house surrounded by all new people and things, so he was pretty quiet at first and kept to himself (and Gabby's toys). He barely touched a bite of food and I will admit that when trick-or-treating first got underway, I was starting to sweat. He did not really understand what we were doing and did not want to follow the kids up to strange houses. He started to shut down, which is very hard to get him to recover from. He started running away from everyone and me...inching away from me so that I would not be able to grab him and sitting down asking to go home. He quietly informed me in my ear that he "don't want trick treat" and I was pulling out the keys and getting ready to jump ship. Then Dana's incredibly sweet mom (she is honestly the nicest and most comforting person that I have met in a long time) back tracked from the crowd and started to help me. Between the two of us, we managed to get Colin up to a front door where the candy was sitting out on the porch. It finally registered to him what was going on...if you walk up to a house and say trick-or-treat, they will give you candy!! His transformation after that was amazing!! He was quickly running with the kids to each house and even got ahead at one point! There were a couple of scary houses and spooky adults in costume, but he was undeterred. He was not stopping until everyone under the sun gave him candy. I was laughing to myself at the end...all the kids made one block and went back into Dana's house for cake. Colin, however, would have kept going all night long. I ushered him back into the house, but I am pretty sure that he would have kept going until he passed out! I am very glad that nobody seemed to mind that he was not exactly in costume. :-) The whole party was wonderful and I am so glad we were invited. He has been talking about Gabby's house and candy ever since we got home, so I know the night ended up being a hit for the little man. Here are some of the pictures:

Gabby and Colin sitting at the table...they were alternating between eating candy and Oreo cake. It does not get much better than that!

Two cuties!!

How cute is this?!?! A bunch of trick-or-treating toddlers!! Please note Colin's anti-costume.

This is at the beginning of trick-or-treating. You can tell from Colin's expression that this is before he figured out what was going on. :-)

Colin and Gabby during the "picnic" dinner. They are so precious together!!