I’m hosting my first Thanksgiving this year. GULP!
My parents usually host, but they’re in the midst of a remodel–new kitchen, dining room, and living room. Essentially every necessary Thanksgiving area is under construction. My parents, my oldest sister, and I all live within 3-5 miles of each other. Normally, this kind of thing would fall next to my oldest sister because, well, she’s the oldest! But our middle sister and her family from WI are going to stay at her house, so that leaves me, the youngest sister. Again, GULP!
My biggest concern was cooking the turkey. Listen, I can hold my own in the kitchen! But my mom, MY MOM, is the queen of food! I bow down to her cooking. Think I’m kidding? Here’s one of Mom’s turkeys from Thanksgiving past:
Yup. That’s a turkey wrapped snuggly in what’s essentially a bacon quilt. A BACON QUILT, PEOPLE!! It’s not a bad way to go, really! But also not the turkey you want to be comparing yours to. When I was first assigned to host I had visions that my turkey would be like the turkey from Christmas Vacation…
Luckily, my mom said she’d still do the turkey…on the grill, because they don’t have a kitchen, remember? That’s right. She doesn’t have a kitchen and she’ll STILL make a better turkey than me!
With that stress lifted off my shoulders, I’m focusing on others things, like the eight grandkids four-years and under that’ll be running (and one crawling) around my house–Oy! Although they adore playing and being with each other, eventually there will be whining and tears–and with the kids too! So I want to be prepared, but in the quickest, easiest, laziest way possible. If you’re in the same boat, you’re going to LOVE these printable activities for kids! Most of them only require a printer, and the most “difficult” one requires paper and markers. So quick! Fire up the printer before company arrives!
