Thanksgiving 2008

My great niece "kicking in the leaves".
Emmee and Grasen playing in the back yard.

Waiting for turkey time!

Grasen digging for shells in Navarre sand! Great idea, Aunt Phyllis!

The morning after--3 sisters going shopping at 6am...thought about 4 am,

but changed our minds!

This year we gathered at my sister's house. It's a lovely home, with room for all of us, and is centrally located in the state. Jerry and I picked up mom on Wednesday and arrived on Wednesday. We are the turkey cookers, so we had to be there to start the bird Wednesday night. I wish I had taken pictures of the process, but it's difficult to photograph and prepare the bird at the same time. So, you'll just have to suffer through my narration! This year we had a 21 pound bird--a BIG bird! Washing that bird was not an easy task...but we managed, dried him off, oiled him down, and covered with salt and pepper. We put him on the roasting rack in the roasting pan (breast up), poured about 1/2 C of beer (a BIG can of beer) in the bottom of the pan, and put the beer can---well, up the turkey's butt. Hence, "Beer-Butt Turkey". The oven was preheating to 400 while we covered the turkey with foil and tightly secured it so no moisture could escape. When the oven was ready, we put the bird in the oven...where he stayed at 400 for the first 1 1/2 hours. Then we reduced the heat to 250. I guess it was 7pm by the time we put him in the oven. At 7am, we took him out to check for doneness. Well, that bird just fell apart! I literally pulled the breast bone out without any trouble! So, I resealed him, turned the oven off, and put him back in the oven to rest. When it was time to "carve" the turkey, I was ready with reinforcements--brother-in-law Bruce! We were amazed to discover that there was nothing to carve! The meat just fell off the bones! So tender, moist, and delicious! Definately our best "Beer-butt Turkey" ever! Mom made delicious dressing and gravy, family arrived with all the trimmings,Phyllis read a Psalms of thanks, and we (17 of us, I believe) had a feast! I did manage to take a few "after" pictures, though!