36 For Dinner

Just not at my house thankfully. My sister in law hosts a huge thanksgiving dinner for all the family plus a few friends at her house in town. My husband's whole family comes down from Washington and everyone is here for a few days. So we have family fun time for about 4 days straight. It's fun, but with my little ones it takes a big toll on them. So yesterday we stayed home until the last minute because we wanted to stay later. I think I came across as an ogre because I refused to let my daughter go outside and play on the play structure before dinner. All the other kids got to go out, but I knew if I let her go she would be covered in mud. So I said no, that her family had to see her in her clean dress before she went outside. They showed up and saw her and then we had dinner.
This year we brought sweet potato pie, a cheddar-jalapeno bread pudding and some sweet potatoes with a struesel topping. That's a lot of cooking with little kids. My husband pointed out that we should no longer make special dishes for Thanksgiving outside of the normal menu. I think his payoff to work ratio in that event doesn't work out for him. Sad, but I see his point.
At any rate we had a very good time and has some amazing gravy. I have to say I watched a Paula Deen recipe for cranberry the other day and I thought it looked gross. Someone made it and it was really good. So, shows how much I know! Today we are all going to the movies and a dinner sans kiddos, but I think I have to skip the movie and just go to dinner. My little guy still doesn't take a pacifier and he's miserable without his mommy and her...um...equiptment (if you will).

And how was your Turkey Day?