gobble gobble

We had a lovely Thanksgiving, surrounded by masses of family. My brother and his family came to stay with us. We drove over to my Aunt's house where we met up with our parents and various cousins, aunts, uncles and lots of new babies in the family. It was so wonderful to see, exclaim over, and hug everyone. Lots of laughter, talking, eating. And even some football watching in one corner of the house...some of the younger boy cousins are starting to join into the male-bonding ritual of falling asleep to the game after dinner. Of course they didn't sleep but they loved watching the game and listening to the uncles and grandpas talking.

Food being an important part of the ritual we had a feast that was truly not to be believed. Five kinds of cranberry sauce, broccoli bake, corn pudding, crockpot stuffing (see recipe below), braised carrots, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, pickled onions, pickled sweet potatoes, an olive platter, shrimp cocktail, a cheese platter, a roast turkey, a fried turkey, and probably some other stuff that I forgot. The dessert buffet was just as impressive with a pumpkin pie, apple pie, seven layer cake, cannoli cake, flourless hazelnut torte, pumpkin bread, two kinds of brownies. We are truly fortunate to be able to have such an abundance of wonderful food and all of these fabulous people to share it with. Safe, warm and loved. What a blessing.

Every time we are all together we try to take a family picture. It's getting harder and harder as there are more and more of us to squeeze into the frame. There were 32 of us this year. It's funny how the next generation is taking over. When my generation was the youngest in the picture my cousin E was the baby. Now E is 22 and there are many spouses and babies to include. Unfortunately technology has not kept pace with our needs. Digital cameras can be great but the time release picture feature did not work well so we had to take a picture without Aunt S, our family photographer. Usually she is diving for her "spot" just before the camera goes off. We still got a great picture, but I'm sad that she wasn't in it.

All in all an amazing Thanksgiving with many reasons to be thankful. I hope yours was just as wonderful.

Crockpot Stuffing
serves 16

1 C. butter
2 C. chopped onion
2 C. chopped celery
12 1/2 C. bread cubes
1 T. Bell's seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
4 1/2 C. broth (I used veggie)
2 beaten eggs

melt butter
sautee onion and celery
spoon over bread
add seasonings
add broth
add eggs
mix well

put into greased crockpot
cook on high 45 minutes
cook on low 4-6 hours
enjoy!