The Big Day! Mr. Drew prepared the bird:
and Nikki, Rachel and I headed out to hike up to the watchtower (my second trip of the week!). Eli gets a lesson in riding the dirt bikes and there are quite a few forays with our 3 bikes. We hikers reached the top, and as always, it provided a spectacular view and the photo to go with it:
Back down, it’s time to get busy. Cribbage games on, it’s time to prep biscuits and gravy. I give a shout out for help and all troops rallied. i handed the biscuit baton to Matt, Michael and Eli, who killed it as the german bakers,
and handled the gravy myself. My favorite part of the holiday, we held hands in a circle and took turns, as the spirit moved us, to share personal feelings of gratitude. It’s a true treasure to be able to open my/our hearts in such a safe and loving place. And by place, I mean people who offer unconditional love and help me be a better, more authentic me.
Chow time! I have the honor of cutting up the bird (the better to shove crispy skin in, I say!):
and as usual, the sharks are circling:
successfully, I might add!
The big meal:
Dinner done (for most of us), Rachel and I enjoy one of our favorite rituals, taking a fork and digging into that chocolate pie (thanks mommy!):
(yes, that is a measuring cup of gravy on the counter. there are generally 4 of those spread around the table, since no one can get enough of that funky stuff).
Then everyone under 35 performed with an assembly line better than anything Henry Ford could have dreamed up and the kitchen was cleaned in record time:
while I picked the turkey for the next day:
Now here, you might think that that was enough for any satisfactory Thanksgiving day, but wait, there’s more! We headed out and had a terrific bonfire that raged at one point about 5 feet high. The men were throwing armloads of wood on and it lit up the whole campfire circle:
and provided comfort for those in a turkey coma:
Day is done. Gone the sun. You get the idea. An epic one to be sure.