first time for everything

This was by far the best turkey I've ever done! Well, that's because it was the first turkey I've done... but I think it did turn out well. And I even cooked it with one of the giblet bags still in there. I couldn't find it. :) I need some help with my turkey anatomy. I knew I was looking for 2 bags, but I guess I didn't dig around enough to find the "hidden bag." It was a little disgusting handling a raw bird - it just didn't feel right sticking my hand in there! Ha ha. (I'm just glad I'm not an OB-GYN and I'm glad that we don't have 15 lb. babies.) That sucker was pretty hard to handle...

Anyway, the oven bag seemed to work well. The turkey was done right on time. I knew today was going to be all a matter of timing. Alex was teasing me about planning it all out yesterday, but I had to know exactly how long everything needed to be cooked and when. And it worked out great. I cooked the sweet potato apple casserole first, then the turkey, then the rolls, then the green bean casserole (and warmed the sweet potatoes at the same time.) The mashed potatoes were cooking on the stove and the stuffing and gravy were a quick fix right at the end. Everything was done right at 2:00pm. And I was able to clean-as-you-go, so there wasn't a huge mess at the end.

my first butterball!

Alex doing his one task, carving the turkey (and then getting all the meat off later)

homemade mashed potatoes and Stovetop stuffing

homemade rolls

sweet potato apple casserole, with marshmallows!

my 2 other little butterballs (Dad dressed them today!)

We had Alex's brother Jim and Aunt Jane over to share Thanksgiving meal. Aunt Jane brought the cherry pie and deviled eggs. The boys loved the eggs.

We sure missed the rest of our family...