Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving 2010 was a little different. We were not able to travel and spend time in Memphis with my family but we did get to spend time with good friends. Paul and Kara and Rawls traveled from Charleston to spend Thanksgiving with us in Nashville. Steven was privileged enough to spend Thursday at the hospital working while we spent the morning eating cinnamon rolls and watching Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Starting Friday, Steven was free to spend the weekend with us. The Link family dinner was Friday. Steven was itching to cook his first turkey so for his birthday I gave him a cordless remote grilling thermometer and he and Paul were able to open one of their Christmas presents early... a personalized iron to brand their first turkey. Since Steven and I did not get to experience the traditional Johnson holiday menu, we added it to the Link holiday menu resulting in a MASSIVE but DELICIOUS feast: 2 types of turkey, ham, dressing, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, deviled eggs, home made mac and cheese, dumplings, rolls, sweet potato casserole, squash casserole, broccoli and rice casserole, 7 layor salad, a cranberry mold (which I melted before dinner...darn!), pumpkin bread, fudge pie, chess pie, pecan pie, jam cake.... OH MY GOODNESS, I AM FULL AGAIN JUST THINKING ABOUT IT. It was delicious!!!!! I will have to say Steven's first turkey was excellent. No lie... the BEST turkey I have EVER put in my mouth...sorry DAD but Steven's process of smoking a turkey in a gas grill has just performed as good or better than your green egg... Saturday morning, we packed up and spent the night at the farm so Steven could hunt and Paul could watch.In the pictures you will see John Parker and Rawls playing...Paul and Steven smoking a turkey on a gas grill...the final brands on the turkey...me and Kara in the kitchen cooking and looking beautiful in the process...group pics at the Link's house after dinner...and finally John Parker with his large train track and deer that Steven saw while hunting Sunday morning. Thanksgiving was a little different this year but we had a lot of fun and made some great memories.