Giving Thanks

Good morning! It's 4:40 a.m., I have my coffee, and I'm plotting and planning how the rest of the day will go.

For me, it will go almost entirely in the kitchen, of course, but at least I have a head start.

Cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, lemon meringue pie, all made yesterday. Not pictured: The custard I baked with the extra pie filling, because there is always extra pie filling. How big are other people's pie plates?

I also made the turkey stock with the nasty bits pulled from the turkey's cavity. That has to be one of my least-favorite Thanksgiving tasks. It was made worse this year by the fact that I was doing it at 5:30 yesterday morning before I took the post-surgical child to his first physical therapy appointment in a city. Also, there was still a chunk of ice inside the turkey, because it had only been thawing for two days. I had to run cold water in the cavity, pry out the chunk of ice encasing the neck, and then scrub out my sink, because raw turkey juices are seriously yuck.

All this before 6 a.m.

Anyway! That's done. All that's left are dressing--I made extra sourdough bread for this a few days ago--mashed potatoes, salad, and actually roasting the turkey. And making gravy. Oh! And digging up the parsnips so I can roast those with carrots.

That's not so much, right? Right. The pies are the worst part for me anyway, so I'm glad they're done.

Not so much the happy little baker here.

Regardless of the kitchen work to be done, there is much to be thankful for today. I will meditate on this as I scrub my two parsnips.

Happiest of Thanksgivings to everyone! Enjoy your feast, whatever that looks like for you.