S-U-C-C-E-S-S-!

Well, it was a success! Everything went well! All the food was fully cooked and got to the table warm. I'm so glad that I DVR'd Martha Stewart Thanksgivings as they came in handy the morning of for cooking the Turkey. I even got to watch my favorite - SHREK - perform in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! Love that Lord Farquad! :)

I tried the Cheese Cloth to brown the turkey, I think the effect was quite nice. I also used, as Martha directed a butter and wine mixture to drizzle or more or less drowned the turkey in every 30 minutes! LOVELY! The skin was to die for! Mm mm Mm mmm Good!

Then there was the Dried Cherry and Italian Sausage Stuffing. While making this, it was what I was most scare for. I thought I had completely screwed it up but it turned out to be the biggest hit of the day! My brother requested more and more and more of it and Mike's dad who doesn't eat stuffing EVER said it was the best item on the table! :) TadAhen!

My Brussels sprouts or Alien Heads as Mike calls them were OK...I could do without them. They were a very easy recipe, but there were TONS left over. Just Thyme, butter (browned), and salt and pepper. My mother did ask me where you buy brown butter and I had to clear that one up. She's a funny one.

The Acorn Roasted Squash was DELISH. Apparently my sister, Elizabeth had requested this because she had had a Canadian Thanksgiving a few weeks before and they had made squash. She though I made this especially for her, but the truth is...my mother forgot to relay the message and this was a happy coincidence. Libby was very excited, but did not eat enough of it. I've never made squash before...VERY VERY hard to cut, but very very DELISH.

Green Bean Casserole. Enough Said. Mike's Request that we don't do anything fancy to the green beans. I did forget to put more French's fried onions on top, but no one seemed to mind.

The Candied Sweet Potatoes were handed over to me from my Grandpa. He said I can make them from now on. I did OK on them. Apparently the only thing I could do better is let them marinate over night. I guess when I only make one dish at a time I might attempt to do that, but I think for now, the fact that they turned out EXTREMELY EDIBLE and scrumptious is alright by me.

And I almost forgot the Mashed Potatoes which were a little different, but which I enjoyed VERY MUCH!!! I like things a little different... things that make you think, "what is that taste?" but not in a bad way... These were just right. LOVE!!! I may make these more often!

My Dried Dates stuffed with a cream cheese/marscapone/chive mix and wrapped in prosciutto were a HUGE HIT!!! Everyone loved them. People I thought would never try them ate like 5 of them at one time! :)

Pies -- My apple pie and pumpkin pie were a huge feat for me! I spent all day Wednesday before baking these! They were beautiful! And wonderful! I don't think I'd make them again. I think I'll try new ones next time! The pumpkin was a bit heavy for me with the cream cheese in there and the apple was way too citrus-y for me, but they were both lovely to look at!

It's a good thing that Darla brought her Strawberry Shortcake Dessert and Grandma brought her Pecan Pie and Pumpkin Pie Ala Bob Evans! :)

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I am very proud of myself for doing all this and actually making it through. Next time hopefully there will be more help from the boy's end. The dishes are finally done and the Christmas Tree is up. Now to finishing the Christmas Lights, getting the house back in order and back the wedding plans.