Un-Turkey Day Part 2

Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is one of those days for me that have the great potential to be depressing. I have always wished that I had a huge family with aunts, uncles, cousins running around, etc, but I just don't! Due to the unique nature of my family (divorces, people living far away, etc), Thanksgiving is a small affair. My parents live very far away and my husband's family consists of three people. The only way we will ever have the kind of Thanksgiving I imagine is if my siblings and I produce a ton of children and make it happen ourselves! We celebrated our traditional Thanksgiving feast last weekend (see previous post). So on the real day, I decided to make the most of it with whoever was available to stop by! Last weekend I learned that the pilgrims may have eaten seals and eagles at their feast!!! So I thought if the Pilgrims can eat seals and eagles, we can eat whatever the heck we want for our feast! That explains why the only turkey in our kitchen was this turkey made out of an apple, toothpicks, and marshmallows by Avery in her kindergarten class!Who needs fancy Martha Stewart centerpieces? Besides my apple marshmallow turkey, I also had Piper's toilet paper roll pumpkin!

My husband made the MOST SPECTACULARLY DELICIOUS pie I have ever eaten. Words cannot describe. It was a derby pie, but it was extra chocolatey. It didn't set up entirely, so it was literally oozing with chocolate and pecan pie filling. He laced it with bourbon, which is always a nice touch. My future sis-in-law asked if it was okay for the kids to eat the pie with bourbon in it. We paused and said, "Heck yeah! We want them to take a nap!"

Since we decided that turkey wouldn't be a part of our Thanksgiving feast, we had to have some other kind of meat. My husband made his awesome BBQ pulled pork. He made enough for about twenty people, so we will be eating the leftovers for weeks....but that is okay with me because it is THE BEST. Do you see the fried okra next to the BBQ? Yep, you heard me. Every member of my family adores fried okra. It was the only thing at our feast that we did not have leftovers of because every single person gobbled it up. BBQ, okra, derby pie.....I promise we are not Southern!

Last year for Christmas I got a Pioneer Woman cookbook. I have been anxious to try one of her appetizer recipes, but haven't had an occasion worthy yet....until yesterday. We made the BBQ jalepeno peppers. Fresh jalapeno peppers filled with a cheesy mixture, then wrapped in bacon, brushed with BBQ and baked for an hour. Spicy, but delicious!! Word of caution.....wear gloves when making these bad boys!

Here are the finished poppers. One of my brothers said that his bowels would never forgive me.
See?? There are lots of ways you can spread love during the holiday season.

Here is a shot of the side dishes, in case you care. Cheesy hasbrown casserole, corn bread, derby pie, poppers. It was like a Paula Dean Thanksgiving. I promised everyone that they WOULD NOT leave the table without a heaping dose of heartburn!

Now for the guests at this small but festive party. My guests had a thing for hats. I felt a little left out. No one told me, the hostess, that there was a hat theme. Here is Piper in her pilgrim hat that she made at daycare.

Here is Avery in her Indian hat that she made at school.

Here is my brother, Michael, who is clearly the REAL turkey at our table. He wore that hat through the Starbucks drive-thru before he came over to our house. He said that the lady at the window said, "My, aren't you festive?!"

My brother Daniel and his fiance, Amber borrowed the hats from the girls.

Now for the awkward, weird shot. This is Amber, Daniel, and Michael re-enacting the first Thanksgiving when an Indian presented a turkey to a pilgrim....at least I think that is what is going on.

We watched the Macy's Day parade. Amber's sister was in the parade marching with Purdue University. She is in their color guard! There were some very questionable performances at the parade. I felt like I was watching Dancing with the Stars, lots of B level celebrities, acting like people know who they are! We really loved the dancing and singing penguins. Al Roker needs to lay off the Botox. Meredith Veira could probably use some more Botox. Haha!

After all our festivities were over and our guests had left, we took the girls to see Tangled in 3D, and it was precious! I was very thankful for a fun day that was virtually stress free. All in all, my Thanksgiving was certainly not conventional, but it upheld the spirit of the holiday!