Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving at the Scott home is filled with traditions.

Cooking

A big part of our holiday celebration is food and family.  The kitchen is always humming with activity.  I am amazed at my mother and how she pulls everything together.  She spends weeks preparing menus and finding recipes.  The cooking starts early (sometimes days early).   There is always a mix of favorite recipes from the past and new ones to try.  It is fun to be a part of her kitchen team and help her create delicious appetizers and dinner compliments.  There is no questions that she is the boss of the kitchen.  We take our orders from her and enjoy making our assigned dishes.
With everyone's help the result is a fabulous feast.

Here is a picture of the boss in action working on her favorite orange rolls.
With so many different dishes to prepare we would be lost in the kitchen if it wasn't for Mom's right-hand-man and dishwasher.  Dad washes dozens and dozens of dishes.  It is a constant revolving door of dishes!  He is so good-natured about it.  It is an important job and he does it with a smile.

Breakfast in the Park

Another Thanksgiving tradition is meeting our cousins, The Thackers, at a local park for breakfast burritos, donuts, hot chocolate with candy canes, and orange juice.  We play kick ball and burn off some calories in preparation for our Thanksgiving feast.  I think this tradition started when the Moms asked the Dads to take the kids out of the kitchen so they could work.  Now it has evolved into a critical part of our tradition.  Even the grandchildren know that thanksgiving means playing at the park.  This year a woman passed by and said "what a fun idea!".  I think she thought we used breakfast as our traditional Thanksgiving feast. 

Appetizers

At our home we begin the thanksgiving meal with appetizers.  Some would say this is the meal!  There are always new and inventive foods all made from scratch.  This year we had a dozen appetizers including: phyllo dough chicken triangles, stuffed tomatoes, honey pear brochette, wild vegetable soup, a fresh vegetable tray, wassail, stuffed chicken and spinach phyllo rolls, hot artichoke dip, tomato basil baguettes, deviled eggs, chipolata salsa on brie (thanks Bryan), mushroom and olive phyllo cups, and we enjoyed an array of homemade breads including chocolate zucchini, pina coloda, banana nut and pumpkin.

The Shooting Range

While the women folk work on the finishing touches for dinner, the rest of the crowd entertains themselves with another Thanksgiving tradition--The Shooting Range. It started with one bb gun and a pie pan for a target.  It has evolved into an elaborate shooting gallery with three guns and an array of targets.  The prized targets are the ones we've saved all year.  For example, an old Barbie doll, a toy dinosaur, or an action figure.  Other favorite targets are things that can explode like burned out light bulbs, or spew liquids such as water balloons, cans of soda, and milk jugs.   This year Cameron added a new element by creating teams and organizing a shooting relay like the television show Top Shot.  If you ask a Scott or a Thacker, we are all Top Shots.

Togetherness

When the time finally comes to sit down at the table, I am filled with love for my family.  The Thanksgiving feast is a culminating event of the year.  It is a time to reflect on the joy and challenges of the past months.  It is a time to enjoy the blessings of family.  It is a time of thanks.

Winding Down

After dinner we indulge in the yummy pies Aunt Glenna brings and wind down by playing games or   watching a movie.  This year Ethan learned how to play Rook.  He thinks its pretty special when he plays with the big kids.  The best part of the day is the conversations and the time to really connect with loved ones.  Thanksgiving is one of my most favorite holidays!