Pre-Thanksgiving Activities

Here is a quick summary of some Pre-Thanksgiving activities that have been going on around here.


As part of her Confirmation Class, Mikayla is encouraged to participate in "Service Activities" throughout the year. Mikayla helped to serve an early Thanksgiving Feast to a a large group this last Sunday in order to fulfill one of her service activity requirements.

She did a marvelous job of serving our table, but hopefully she won't give up her Veterinarian career path just yet.
Here she is, taking Tanya's order.

Here she is, delivering my food. I had to temporarily relocate just to take the picture.

Here is a picture of the first group of diners... there were a lot of people, and more were coming.

The funds earned from this feast go toward the Youth Ministry program at Salem Lutheran Church (our church).

Here is a picture that Alexia helped create after being shown a few tricks in digital photo editing. How many Mikayla's do you see?


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After only a half day of school, Tanya was able to spend some time in the kitchen today working on our favorite Lemon Angel Pie and a Mandarin-Raspberry Jell-O concoction. Thanks honey - we can't wait!!

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Alexia and I went to the store for a few more Thanksgiving necessities: Cool Whip, California Rolls and a Never-Ending Jawbreaker.

Walking through the freezer section Alexia poses a question:

Alexia (A): "Why would somebody want a huge ball of butter? Hey! That thing is really hard!"
Eric looks toward her to realize she is knocking on a Butterball Turkey.
Eric (E): That is a frozen turkey, not a ball of butter. The company that provides those turkeys is called "Butterball".
A: That's weird.
(Pause)
A: I'm not eating animals. It's mean. I'm having pizza on Thanksgiving. So is Aryana.
E: Ok honey.
E ponders the pros and cons of discussing tofurkey with an 8 year old and decides to wait for another day and drops the topic entirely.

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This evening, with our bird awaiting it's fate in the 'fridge, I made some phone calls and consulted some expert turkey chefs... in real life, on the phone and via the Internet, to find out just how the heck I'm supposed to cook this thing.

It seems that every one's method is different - and yet every one's method is the BEST way to cook a turkey. So... if you ask me, of course I followed YOUR advice and yes, the turkey was fantastic! Thank you very much.

~E

P.S. to Cookbook Authors: You need to incorporate "Juice Box Math" in your next edition. If a recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of Apple Juice, it's actually 2 juice boxes. Sure, it may cost more, but it saves me another trip to the grocery store with the kids in tow asking for every piece of candy in the checkout aisle.