Tuesday, December 3, 2013

November = Thanksgiving (Thanksgiving Day!!!)(LOTS of pics!!!)

I do realize it is December.....this is what happens when you take time off of school.  My whole schedule has been turned upside down and inside out!!!
But in the best of ways!!!!

We are off of home-schooling for the month of December!!!

YAAAAAY!!!!

I am a little excited about this. Can you tell??
I have a funny story about needing a brain break and shaving legs.....maybe I'll share it another day! ;)

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Turkey In The Hole

I don't have pictures of it,(well, actually, I have pictures, but my technologically challenged self cannot figure out how to move them from the Blackberry to my computer!!! Grrrr!!! If by some miracle I get it figured out, I will update this post!!) but on Wednesday morning (the day before Thanksgiving) we dig a 3'L x 3'W x 4'D-ish hole.
We start a fire and load it up with wood.
We add wood ALL day!!  LOTS of wood!!! (again, I do have pictures...)
Enough to fill the hole with coals.....lots of wood!!
Wait...I already said that!!!
My kids were very helpful and hauled the wood from various parts of our yard down to the hole, of course, using my mower and dump cart made the job way more fun!!!!  As night comes we are always worried that we did not burn enough wood...will there be enough coals?
It is a lot of hard work, but the flavor of the turkey is so worth the effort!!!
In a fierce yell-----"FIE-YAAHH!!!!" 
So, here is the fire around 8pm, still large chunks of wood that need to break down to smaller coals!!



 Oooooohhhhhh......sparks!!!!  My kids LOVE these "quiet" fireworks!!!!



 Getting the "seasonings" prepped for the turkey!!!


 Yep! Getting ready to stuff this bird with ice cubes, fruit and butter!!  Yummy!!!!!
The other turkey was filled with ice cubes and "Rubusto" Italian Dressing!!! Yummy!!!


Then we rub butter on the outside of the birds and wrap them in 10 layers of heavy duty foil 
(shiny side out).....



Time to go check on the fire....again!
 I got a light streak!!!! Woo Hoo!!!!


 My Truly girl chillin' by the fire before bed!!


 My Thoene goofing off by the fire before bed!!!
(Well, he doesn't look like he is goofing off, but I'm sure he is!!!)



 My McCoy freezing his rear before bed!!!  
It actually was very cold this year!!  Around 33* by this time of night!!



 My super handsome Army Man!!!! =)   LOVE him!!! Adore him!!



 Black and White fire......oooooohhhhh
 Aaaaahhhhhhh.......pretty......


 Cartoon fire....hey! The kids asked!!



 Another fire streak!!!! =)  Fire provides much entertainment!!


A very hot shovel with sparkly thingys!!!!



Now the rest of the party begins!!!!  Time to put the turkeys in the ground to cook all night!!!
 Our hole is filled to the brim with coals....this pic does not do it justice!!!
And the blue-ish colors is the smoke....



 Putting the turkey on the special long-handled shovel (that we use once a year!!).....so we can safely put them in the fire that is reeeeeally hot!!



Put both turkeys in the coals.....looks kinda like creepy mask!!


This is a pic with a flash.... turkey in the coals!!!



 Beginning to cover the turkeys (that are now covered in coals) with dirt to complete the process and seal in that heat!!!



 This is labor intensive so all hands on deck!!!
At this point it is about 11:00pm....the kids wanted to see the turkeys go in so we got them out of bed (they actually prayed about it!!)(sneaky kids!!). Of course, we made them do some work (in their jammies no less!!).  Character development!!!  And, many hands make light work and all that!!! And, it was really cold so they needed to be moving about!!!!



                                                                 Good morning!!!!
  It is 7am and I got up to put the ham in the oven 
(Army Man will not put a ham in those coals...). The whole yard was covered with frost!! 
Very unusual for this time of year here in SOUTH Alabama!!! But it was very beautiful...and crisp!!!



 The kids (and company) are completely fascinated with uncovering the turkeys!! 
The visitors were a little skeptical!!



 Oooohhh, the dirt is still warm!!! Even though it is freezing outside!!! 



 Where are they??? I know we put them in here!!!



 Yay!!!!!  There it is!!!!!  



 Using the mower and cart to haul those turkeys back up to the house!!! =)
That is my awesome, hardworking daughter!!! (and her older brother watching her work...hmmm)



The smell emanating from this turkey is amazing!!!  
Making me drool a bit just looking at this picture!!!




We hosted both sides of our family this year and a family from our church!!  
It was a lot of fun!! We had about 30 people over!!! 
And may I just say that they did not eat enough!!! I am still eating left overs!!
 It is Monday for crying out loud and it doesn't appear that I will be done any time soon!!!


 Cutie Baby Easton!!!!


 Kid table!!! 



 My cutie baby niece McKynzie!!! AKA Punkin'




 A rousing game of Red Light, Green Light after eating such a huge meal!!!!



Cutie kids with "Uncle Dave"!!!  He is not really an uncle to any of the kids in this pic, but he loves kids and always has a game ready to help them have fun!! He is great with the kids!!


All in all we had a great day!!! I think everyone that was there had a great time!!  I know I did!!! Of course, after every left  the party was on.....

and by party,

I mean, NAP!!!!!! =)


Blessings!!!

P.S.

Psalm 69:30
I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

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