Thanksgiving 2012

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Conroe, TX

 

Today we celebrate and rejoice in the many blessings of 2012. There are too many to list and I am so very grateful for what God has given my family and I during these past 12 months. A lot has happened this past year. At this time last year we were telling my parents that we were pregnant with Baby Luke and now the little guy sit up on his own! Wow... how time flies!

 

This is a year where we get to spend Thanksgiving with the Davis side of the family (Although since moving so close to both sides it doesn't really matter as much). Both John and Leeanna as well as D'Ann were able to come into town and celebrate my favorite holiday of the calendar with us. In fact, they all were able to come into town a little early and even stay late to spend time with us and Dan and Jackie.

 

This particular Thanksgiving was a VERY special one to Chris and I as it was our first holiday we were able to spend and HOST in our new home. We have been living in our new home for nearly 2 months and have been working long and hard hours to get it all ready and "Set-up" for everyone to come and see it and enjoy this holiday in it! We arranged all the furniture and unpacked all the boxes. We also took time to hang pictures are nearly every wall and displayed our most treasured possessions.... Natalie and Luke.

My living room all decorated for Thanksgiving 

Since we were going to be hosting the Thanksgiving meal I decided to use my China that we got as a wedding gift. I had always wanted China but never really understood how little I would actually use it. I think in the nearly 7 years of marriage, I have only used it MAYBE 6 times. That is not even a ratio of one use per year! I knew this occasion needed the China. So on Thanksgiving morning I got up early and brought down all of my china from the upstairs hall closet. I laid out all of the dinner plates, salad plates and even dessert plates. I also found a beautiful Autumn colored tablecloth and matching napkins to use as well. In fact both the tablecloth and napkins as well as the napkin rings HAD NEVER BEEN USED. It was almost like I didn't even know they were there. Chris also thought using our wine glasses would be a great idea. These have probably only been used twice at the most since we don't drink often (Or at all in Chris' case).

My beautiful dining room (With my china!)
 

After I set the table and got all of the preparations for it ready, I began to help Chris with his Thanksgiving tradition of frying a turkey. We have an indoor turkey fryer but with the layout of the kitchen we decided to fry the turkey in our courtyard. This allowed for maximum usage of the kitchen counter tops and area space.

Chris getting ready for his turkey by making a dry rub!
 

Jackie, Leeanna and myself began making the EIGHT side dishes that would accompany the fried (and baked) turkeys. Luckily this was taking place in two separate kitchens. By 1:00 o'clock we were ready to cut into each bird and feast on our many delicacies.

These were Leeanna's AMAZING creations including: Macaroni and Cheese, Broccoli Rice Casserole and Corn Casserole! They were all very tasty! Thanks Leeanna!

 

This was one of my creations: Traditional Green Bean Casserole! This is always a crowd favorite and it seemed to go over well again this year!

 

Wow... the plates were full! Luckily we used our long counter tops to create a bar and assembly line of which to fill our plates and in true "DAVIS" style we all had multiple helpings! Everything was so tasty and cooked to perfection (Except the rolls which I burnt!!... sorry!). We had enough food to feed an army of big hungry men! We even had 3 different kinds of desserts, each of which were filled with tons of sugar and texture!

The Feast

 

What a wonderful meal!

 

Overall, we had a huge feast of many of our favorites and we were able to eat off of these for several meals and days! In fact, we packed up most of the leftovers and took them over to Dan and Jackie's for them to eat later next week. Chris gave his opinion that this was the best Thanksgiving we had ever had. I think I agree with him and I am very anxious to see if Christmas goes off as well as Thanksgiving did!

 

My family and I are so blessed and we are counting our MANY blessings and will "Name them ONE BY ONE"! Praise the Lord for His many blessings!

 

God is good.. ALL THE TIME!