B-B-B-Bird Bird Bird...(Part 1)
Holy Shit! We survived Thanksgiving 2016.
Let me just say: Ben and I both agreed that we have immense respect for our mothers who tackle Thanksgiving every year (and every other occasion). Hosting Thanksgiving is no joke! It is not for the weak, that's for sure! No, really...that bird was heavy to handle at a whopping 15.08 lbs!
Let's rewind our holiday weekend!
Before all of the festivities began, Benjamin and I decided that we needed to make our home more home-y, homie. :) So, we finally tackled the gallery wall that I have been contemplating for probably about a year now (procrastination at its finest!). I don't know what I would have done without Ben! Not only did he help pick out the picture frames, he was a master at hanging all of the pieces! Once we move into 9/16" and all that jazz, my brain shuts off!
The only piece of brilliance that I contributed to this project was the idea of using Christmas paper to get our spacing squared away. The rest was all Ben! And he seriously did an amazing job! I don't know what was harder: hanging each piece or choosing pictures for the frames. We literally sat on the floor for 3 eeeeextremely long hours trying to decide. In the end, we decided to go with all wedding photos, because they were so incredibly beautiful (SUPER props to Alena!) Check out the final product:
It feels like a REAL home! We hung a couple of other things in our bathroom and the entryway too! One of which is actually a really big deal to me! I bought a sign that says: LIFE IS BETTER WITH A DOG. I bought it when I still had Teddie and the sign never really had a place in my house, so I hung on to it. When Ben let me put this sign up, it spoke volumes to me. After losing Teddie, I really struggled. For so many reasons, seeing this sign in our backdoor entryway is really precious to me.
We went on a frantic cleaning spree in the entire house! We even tackled the dreaded spare room that I am responsible for making so messy (see, I admit it, Ben!) We donated so much stuff to Goodwill too! I mean, we washed the walls, cleaned out the registers, scrubbed the shower/toilets, swept everywhere, etc. I may have complained several times about my back breaking, but Ben kept pushing me to keep going. And, the house was beautiful and sparkling clean for our guests!
Vader was absolutely dapper for the holidays, too! I bought him this beautiful bowtie from the same Etsy shop that I bought his Halloween tie, My Lady Alice. It said: Gobble Til Ya Wobble.
So, I knew it would be smart to start prepping some of my sides, as well as bake all of our desserts the night before. On Thanksgiving Eve, I cut up all of my pretzels for the stuffing recipe we tried out (my review of that will be in part 2 of this post!). I also called my mum about 4-5 times for advice on how to use a spring form pan for my pumpkin cheesecake! Ben asked me what the heck I was doing with all of that aluminum foil...I told him, "I don't know!"
I also worked on making the dough for some homemade rolls too. I knew the dough needed some time to rise & settle in the fridge the night before. Oh! And, I almost forgot to mention! Ben bought me a hand mixer for my birthday, but he gave it to me on Thanksgiving Eve! I wouldn't have been able to make the cheesecake as well as I did without it! Sidenote: It's crazy how your list of things you want moves towards appliances, tools, housewares, etc., as you get older!
The cheesecake was literally MASSIVE! It was very professional looking though! I feel like it was a recipe straight out of the Cheesecake Factory or something. If I ever make cheesecake again (scratch that, WHEN I make cheesecake again...), I will definitely halve the recipe!
Ben made his famous apple pie too, so we had all of the desserts covered!
I must admit that the entire week leading up to Thanksgiving, I was terrifying myself by watching videos of people preparing their turkeys. I would wince and look away when they took care of the giblets. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I am very lucky in that Ben took care of the turkey prep for the most part. She was awfully heavy when we were rinsing her out in the sink! Just trying to sit the bird up was a workout in itself!
Before long, we were completely prepped for hosting Thanksgiving 2016. It may have been after midnight, but damnit! We were ready to feast!
ZzzzzzzzzZzzzzzz
