Thanksgiving in Ohio…

Our son David III, his wife Amy plus our 2 grandsons, David III and Emmett Lee, all live in the Cleveland Ohio metropolitan area.  It’s become a tradition for Laurie and I to drive up to their home for the long Thanksgiving weekend.  This year, it was a big event…with 14 family members and friends in attendance.

 

On Thanksgiving Day, we mostly snacked a lot…and those that are able, actually prepare for the big meal.   Here we have Emmett, fresh from playing flag football with his dad, assisting his mom (Amy) in the preparation of her own special version of a toasted Chex snack mix for our pre-meal snacking.  

 

 

Nana, aka Laurie, went to work instructing David III on the finer points of slicing up carrots for Amy’s sautéed carrot dish to go with our dinner.  David handled the instructions very patiently… Earlier, he’d cut up the green beans for his special green bean side dish. 

 

 

This actually stunned and/or impressed me…!  Our son, David II actually ironed the napkins & tablecloth for the dinner table!  What a good boy…

 

 

This is the kitchen scene just prior to dinner.  David II is back by the stove working on something.  Laurie is supervising my effort to carve enough turkey for the crowd.  Amy’s parents, Bonnie and Dan were also observing.  Given my questionable ‘skills’ at carving, I was surprised that they still had an appetite when we sat down for dinner!

 

 

'Butchering the bird' would have been a more correct description of my efforts.  This is my annual duty re: Thanksgiving dinner preparation.  After dinner, I am then responsible for stripping all usable meat from the carcass…sandwich slices in separate packages from bits and chunks for use with pasta, omelets or as hot turkey sandwiches.  Amy and Laurie stay out of the kitchen when I’m up to my elbows in the carcass…a wise move on their part!

 

 

With 14 people for Thanksgiving Dinner, everything was set up for serving buffet style.  In addition to the turkey, (far end of the table), there were 2 kinds of stuffing, (1 with sausage and 1 without), as well as: David III’s green beans; mashed potatoes; mashed califlower;mac and cheese; sweetpotato caserole, corn pudding, etc...lots of variety!

 

 

Here is a view of our Thanksgiving crowd taken by Amy from her chair at one end of the table.  From the left: Brin, Lisa, Dianne, David III, Dalton, Dan,  myself, Laurie, David II, Ian, Bonnie, John, and Emmett Lee. Amy was the one taking the photo.

Given the nature of the world today…with wars, financial cliffs, non-functioning government, the Tennessee Vols football program, etc., we didn’t take any chances.  We started out our meal with 2 different prayers… Huge amounts of food were ultimately consumed!

 

Later…there were of course…desserts!  Lots of desserts… Amy’s Pumpkin Cheesecake in the foreground got rave reviews!  Other entrees in the dessert category included an Apple Crisp Pie, a Chocolate Fudge Pie and a huge Pumpkin Pie with Cool Whip!  This was a very fine Thanksgiving feast and celebration with family and friends…

 

 

This was the scene on the Friday after Thanksgiving in Cleveland…and the big shopping day across the country.  Snow!!  The only good news about the weather was that it didn’t really accumulate except on the grass and we’d already completed our shopping… The snow also served to further confirm that Laurie and I made the right decision in retiring down in paradise…in East Tennessee.  We don’t see much of that white stuff where we live…and we don’t miss it!

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them… (Credit to Amy who took 3 of them)

Thanks for stopping by and sharing our belated posting of our Thanksgiving dinner!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave