Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

Here is our Thanksgiving Day's feast, filled with recipes passed down from my grandma to me, and will eventually be passed down to my children. They are wholesome, unpretentious, country, and tried-and-true. We make the same great dishes every year, and always make too much, but what I love most is spending two days in my grandma's kitchen dicing vegetables, rolling pie crust, and catching up on all that we missed since we saw each other last. I really do feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be so close to my grandparents and being welcomed into their home, not the typical dusty stale place that the media has characterized grandma houses as countrywide. Mommaw's and Boppaw's is cozy, warm, and relaxing, and I not-so-jokingly refer to it as my vacation home in the country. They live right on the river, so there is even a nice water feature and sport in the summertime. When I do find the time and get to indulge is such luxuries as visiting them, I am always taken aback by how splendidly wonderful it is out there.

Anyway, back to Thanksgiving! We started our prep work for the actual dinner on Wednesday, in addition to finishing all of the desserts (four of them this year (!!!) more on those later) and two appetizers. Mommaw and I have very similar opinions of kitchen work, in that if you can get the desserts and apps done ahead of time, in addition to any tedious prep work like chopping or raising, then the day of will be smooth sailing. That is the attitude we have taken with every single Thanksgiving I can remember and it hasn't steered us wrong yet. Come to think of it, Mommaw and I have been preparing Thanksgiving dinner together since before I can remember. Ever as a little girl I would go out to her house early Wednesday and at least stand on a chair and dutifully mix everything she put in front of me. Now that I can be trusted with a big girl knife, I feel like I am a little more help to her now. Regardless, we always pull it together beautifully and I cherish every moment with her.

And here are all the pictures! My sister indulged me by taking these photographs - I always feel so spoiled when she takes pictures of my food, and I tend to hog her skills slightly ("Take a picture of this! And now of this, I just added an ingredient! Wait, let me stir it... ok, now shoot.") Enjoy these, they really turned out fabulously!

Look at our beautiful table!

.... from another point of view.

Shrimp cocktail (for the men among us who need their strength whilst frying our turkey.)

Beer bread to accompany our spinach artichoke dip.

Sparkling cider

Apple, pumpkin, and "happy" pie (pecan spiced with Woodford Reserve bourbon.)

Cranberry chutney (with walnuts, apple, oranges, allspice, and golden raisins.)

Balsamic and apricot glazed Brussels sprouts with bacon and red onion.

Our first of two turkeys - oven roasted (I got to carve this one!)

Turkey, broccoli cheese casserole (one of my favorites!) and dressing (since we don't stuff our turkey.)

Traditional dressing and broccoli cheese casserole.

Our second turkey - bonedust rubbed and deep fried.

Buttermilk rosemary smashed potatoes

Pillowy soft rolls

My end of the table.

A homemade centerpiece, courtesy of Mommaw's ingenuity and resourcefulness.

Made of baby gourds, pumpkins (hollowed out and doubling as candlestick holders), acorns and hedgeapples from the woods.

Roasted Turkey

Candied Sweet Potatoes

Our completed Thanksgiving Day dinner table.