What Now

THANKSMAS!

We came back from our annual trip to Georgia last Sunday after a very nice Thanksgiving/Christmas celebration with our Puckett & McGee Family!

I had to work on Wednesday, but was able to leave a bit early so that Mr. Lee could pick us up for our trip. We don't normally all drive together, but this year we did. Steve is still enamored with his GPS thingie, so we followed a new set of directions to Casa Puckett, and managed to get there before it was very late. We spent some time talking with Aunt Brenda, Uncle Garry, Amy and her two kiddies (who came especially to see us) before going to bed.

Thursday morning was very fun and very busy. Aunt Brenda and I cooked lots and lots of yummy things, and we actually followed a recipe for the dressing this year! It was scientific and everything! I also learned how to properly use a food processor, but only after accidentally liquefying three onions. Don't laugh! The recipe said "Finely Chopped" and I defy any of you to find onions more finely chopped than those! :) I think we pretty much cooked all day, except for those moments that we stole to take baths and change clothes. Steve and Greg went on their annual squirrel hunt, not killing anything (thank goodness). After the episode of the squirrel killing bucket that happened while we were in Myrtle Beach, I don't think I could take much more. I kind of lost track of them after a while, but mainly because I was busy cooking. I'm so glad they let me help fix Thanksgiving dinner! I love to cook, and I'm usually too tired to do it! Everyone finally arrived, with Amy bringing her own yummy part of dinner. As we sat down to eat, I realized how tired I was, and I almost dozed off into my cranberry sauce.

While serving dessert, Aunt Brenda swears that someone was throwing food at her, but we can't figure out who it could have been. We still don't know where the mashed potatoes that landed on her hand came from.

Friday we had plans to go to a Christmas party (yes, we celebrate both at the same time because it's the only time we all are together during the year) at Greg and Kristen's house, but unfortunately their little boy came down with strep throat. BOO for germs! That didn't stop Kristen from outdoing herself and somehow managing to send over a large amount of very good food that she had fixed for us! I felt bad, though, that she went to so much trouble and didn't even get to enjoy it. We all took full advantage of it, though. I think I ate my own weight in everything. I'm fairly certain that I gained roughly 23 pounds over the weekend. However, it was Thanksmas, so I was allowed to indulge. Shut. Up. We all exchanged gifts afterwards and had a very good time doing that!

Normally we would have left on Saturday, but we stayed an extra day so that Steve and Greg could watch the Georgia/Georgia Tech. game and the Auburn/Alabama game together. At least I thought that was what we were doing, but I don't remember seeing Greg until the very end of the Iron Bowl. Where were you, Greg? I also went with Amy and Uncle Garry to pick Jon, Amy's husband, up from the airport. He had gone to visit an old (and by old, I mean she was 80) friend over the holiday, so unfortunately we didn't get to see very much of him while we were there. At any rate, we had another good day of visiting, whatever the reasoning for it!

A funny/disgusting thing happened at dinner that night that I've got to share. I have to take responsibility for it, because I wasn't paying attention to the things I laid out on the kitchen island. We were going to have Thanksgiving leftovers, and when it came time to eat, I jumped into the fridge and pulled out everything I could find that resembled leftovers. Unfortunately, Uncle Garry has a broken foot, so Aunt Brenda fixed his plate and brought it to him while he was sitting in his recliner. We were all kind of scattered around the den eating, so it wasn't very obvious, but at some point I noticed Uncle Garry get up and hobble out of the den in the middle of dinner. He came back after a while and said that there was something wrong with the cranberry sauce because it tasted like pure salt and he had to go and spit it out. Aunt Brenda told him to talk to me about it because I was the one that made it, but he said, "No, not what she made, the kind from a can." He pointed to the container that was sitting between the turkey and the dressing and I started to laugh. I had to tell him that it wasn't cranberry sauce at all. Earlier in the day, I had carved up a monster sized ham so that it wouldn't take up so much room, and Aunt Brenda had saved some of the drippings to use for cooking. She put them into a small, yellow container. As you know, the gelatin from baking anything on a bone makes the drippings look like jelly, and since I hadn't been paying attention when I took the food out of the fridge, I grabbed that container and put it with the rest of the food. The yellow container made the brown drippings look red, so poor Uncle Garry got a mouthful of cold, salted, ham fat. I don't know if I should be as amused as I am about that, and if not, I'm sorry!

Sunday Steve and I accidentally overslept, and since Steve had to go into work (gee, thanks...whomever needed him to come in) we had to jump up and head out before Uncle Garry even woke up! All in all, it was a very fun visit, and I'm glad I got to be there. :)