Thanksgiving

It's just not a family gathering until someone cries. Luckily, this Thanksgiving totally qualified.

Also, nearly everyone ended up all upset at some point (and by nearly every one I mean at least two of us) because, hello, it's a family of girls. Opinionated, stubborn girls. Good times!

Seriously though, I love my family. This was the first year I got to be in control of the kitchen. <cue evil laughter> The mashed potatoes were too salty, the cranberry relish languished, forgotten, in the back of the fridge, but the bird. Oh the bird was MAG-NIF-I-CENT. My goodness. From now on I will always, ALWAYS brine the bird. I've had turkey roasted, deep pitted and fried. My friends, I'm here to testify that brining is the only way to go when it comes to turkey. Well, unless you are in Disneyland, in which case I highly recommend the fried turkey legs, but skip the churros. Just get in your car and zip down to Costco. $7 cheaper, bigger, and dare I say, tastier.
If you DO happen to find yourself in Disneyland, do your inner gastronomic explorer a favor and visit the French Quarter. Pick up a Monte Cristo sandwich. I'm not normally a proponent of fried food. Or salty nitrate soaked fried food. This sandwich is totally the exception.
Ohhhh. Chocolate-pecan-pie-induced sugar rush is making my ADD go into hyper drive. Sorry about that.
Back to your regularly scheduled Thanksgiving report....
After dinner we bundled up the kids in snow suits and took our 20 minute walk around the block. Some day, when I get over being lazy, I'll post the picture of Zsa Zsa in her snow suit. She looks like a cross between the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man and the little brother from A Christmas Story.
Then we all walked the mile to the movie theater and availed ourselves of Disney's new flick: Tangled. It's cute. Save your $30 bucks ( or however much it costs to take the fam to a show these days) and just buy it when in comes out on DVD. :)
One of my sisters made my mom an early Christmas present of pipes cut to varying lengths that, when struck, create a bell-like tone. After pie we all gathered round the one song book and played with the new toy. It was pretty fun, except I don't think The Boy really caught the vision of only playing his note when it was his turn. he pretty much just banged the B flat for the entire song.
All in all the meal was a success, which means *I* was a success. So this was a good day, crying bits excepted.