The Win-Bins had a packed week and weekend, and I managed to hang out on the edges just enough to get a good holiday vibe but not overdo it. They had teacher conferences and doctor visits last week plus getting their Christmas tree up and running in a Turkey Trot in Issaquah. I'm going to have to ask for pictures because Emily hasn't had time to send me enough.
I did take some on Thanksgiving night though. Emily and Ryan cooked throughout the day and enjoyed that about as much as eating, so the time for dinner kept getting put off. I did some cooking the night before and that morning, so I had no duties except to be placed on the couch with a refreshing glass of Prosecco and cranberries and watch all that energy take place in front of me.
The girls did their dress-up thing - without shoes, because you can't run and dance and slide and twirl with shoes on. So sweet and so active. They missed their hair-combing, but it was fine!
The table was pretty, as usual, with the 1967 wedding china. I love to see it there in the candlelight. The girls had added their decorations too - a bowl of perfect little acorns and a plate of crackers by Katherine. She called our attention to it several times.
The girls had their big glasses of Alabama Sweet Tea - decaf - and were thrilled with that. I'm not sure which is worse, the sugar or the caffeine.
My contributions were vegan brown rice, two recipes of dressing and the lime congealed salad that only the females in the family - probably the only one in this town or maybe state - will eat, and we all love it. The girls have their own bowl without pecans, and Emily and I take care of the rest. Ryan's comment at the table - "Maybe we should move the salad just a little bit closer - to the garbage can." It wasn't vegan, of course, but they allowed a little cheating for one meal.
I took two pans of dressing, one vegan and one regular. I could hardly tell the difference. There were eggs and sour cream in the cornbread, and I used real chicken broth for mine, but the vegan one got its flavor from some bouillon cubes called Better Than Bouillon by Swanson. One teaspoon per cup of boiling water made something closely resembling chicken broth. It was also seasoned with a teaspoon of mushroom seasoning - umami - I'm not sure what was in it, but all the dishes tasted great, so I might have to get some just for regular cooking.
Dressing, stuffing, and Brussel's sprouts along with the lime salad and two kinds of gravy. I didn't try the gravy, but everyone said it was good.
The meat has been a few years evolving. I don't think I remember it being anything special, but this year Ryan managed not one, but two meats: Ham and a roast. In the past, he coated the outside of a "real" ham with a gingersnap mixture that made it amazing, and he did something similar to that this year with the fake meat. If you take a bite without looking, you would swear it was the real thing. The Celebration Meat - pork or beef, I'm not sure - was also good and a very good substitute. I wish I could hear Mike's comments about all this!
There were mashed potatoes, dressing, Brussels sprouts, Emily's lovely cranberry-orange relish, and stuffing that they tried for the first time from Purple Carrot. That was my least favorite. It tasted just fine - actually pretty good - but it just had too much of a chopped vegetable look for me - and there were so many other things. Oh, the rice was just the same except for the canned beef broth and bouillon. I renamed it beige rice because the fake beef bouillon didn't give it much color. It needed a little salt but was pretty close to the old favorite in taste.
We all tried a little bit of everything and had seconds of things and declared it a delicious and satisfying meal. I don't love turkey, so I didn't really miss anything. No one left the table stuffed, and no one wanted dessert. I think there was one somewhere, but I didn't have any - an apple crumble, i think. Some friends brought over a few pies left over from their huge family celebration later, and I know those were good.
It was a great Thanksgiving, full of lots of laughter and thankfulness and love. Elise didn't make it this year but maybe will at Christmas.
I've gotten too sleepy sitting here by the fire in the middle of the night to write anything about the train ride. It deserves a whole entry anyway. The wind is blowing and howling, and it's just so cozy inside with the cats for company.
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