I like to do things that are challenging. I like to push myself. That being said, I absolutely hate to cook for people. I'm a perfectionist and my cooking skills are... well, lets just say they are less than perfect. For Thanksgiving I always get stuck bringing something like celery sticks and it makes me feel stupid. I feel guilty sitting down to enjoy such fabulous food when all I have contributed is celery sticks. In fact, this year when we were talking about food assignments my dad even said, "Why don't you bring celery sticks?" I can't cook, everyone knows it and for years I have been the cooking joke.
The first thing I have to brag about is my Mom. I know everyone has Thanksgiving dinner, but not everyone has Thanksgiving dinner prepared by my Mom. The whole world knows my Mom is a fantastic cook so I don't think I need to say more. She normally spends days preparing Thanksgiving dinner. Everything is made from scratch, EVERYTHING, but my Mom has had a very trying year, couple of years actually and I honestly wanted to help her. I didn't want her to have to spend days cooking so, somehow I got signed up to make pie. You have no idea how overwhelming this was for me. Not only do I have to make pie, but it has to feed my family , the same family that has grown up eating my Mom's pie. And I don't even like pie. How will I know if it's good or not? My mom suggested buying a pie crust, but I knew that wasn't really acceptable. So I did what I always do and turned to the world wide web for help. Yes, my mom would have helped me. Like I said, she is a fantastic cook, but I said nothing about her being a good teacher. A little of this and a little of that just doesn't work for me. So, I went to a trusted website and studied it for days. I read over and over how to make pie crust. I realized I needed one of these
I recognized what it was. Did I have one of those? Maybe I got one for a wedding gift and it was stored in a tote somewhere. Or, maybe I gave it away. Or, maybe I didn't have one and the one I was thinking of was the one I had seen my mom use. So, I went to the store and I bought a pastry blender. And I made Pie, 2nd bragging right. I stayed up late and I made 3 pie crusts and two pie fillings. I'm not bragging that I made the best pie or even mediocre pie, I'm just bragging because I made pie. Me, I made pie.
And when Dustin went to capture the moment I dumped half the pie filling out of the crust and onto the floor. Oops!
I love Thanksgiving. I love this time of year and maybe it's because I have so incredibly much to be thankful for. I am so thankful for the little girl that changed me and for the love she has filled me with, for my husband, not because we are perfect together, but because we simply couldn't make it without each other, because he makes me better, as I do him, for my body the same one I am constantly criticizing and critiquing, I'm healthy and I'm strong I have asked my body to do some really hard things and it always allows me to do those things. I can carry babies and give birth and run marathons, for my family because each of them have contributed so so much to my life, for our jobs and our success in them, for my home because it makes me feel just that, at home and because I scribbled I love Dustin on the 2x4's as we built it. and to live in such a beautiful place and for all of the amazing things that surround me.
I absolutely loved spending Thanksgiving weekend with my family! We did some Christmas shopping. Didn't get too much sleep, but did get some awesome deals. And speaking of thankful, on Black Friday we took Brinley to breakfast. We were sitting there waiting for our food and Brinley peeked through the blinds, stared out the window for a second and said, "I just love this world." I just love this world too, but sometimes I take it for granted and I'm thankful she reminded me. We got the 4-wheeler out and continued our tradition of making Gingerbread houses. Such a great weekend and so much to be thankful for.
