Christmas 2008

Turkey Talk, its time for turkey talk.
Talk about the way you do.

'Cause if I am up at 3am
Next year I'm getting a fresh one
Hope this one thaws by 8 am.

I don't trust my frig. It is a huge frig, and struggles in summer to maintain 42 degrees the way we all fan the doors.

Bought the frozen turkey Monday, and it is still rock solid, so I have it in a sink of cold water. I hate to do that---now I will have to scrub the sink. And bleach everything to be safe.

Oven bag box says that this sixteen pounder should only take three hours, but I will factor four to be sure

Hot apple juice is my new best friend. Tastes great, and won't keep me wired, in case I have time to take a nap. Mashed potatoes are on my menu, and just heat up the canned sweet potatoes. Rolls. Rum cake and ice cream bars. Should keep us from starving. I should have scheduled some veggies. Maybe I'll steam the green beans. The tricky part will be that the turkey takes up the whole oven. And three things---the Christmas lights, the coffeemaker, the microwave, the toaster---if any of these three things are trying to run at once, I will blow a fuse in the kitchen.

We watched the Nativity Story again last night. Talk about a visual---to see what they saw and the rough clothing and way of life....wow. They did not get to wash their hands very often, unless you enjoyed a trip to the well or the river. God said He was coming. But, they were looking for a king. Not a king born in a manger.

5:30am After much cursing, and ill will toward the folks who install those vile plastic cages to keep the legs together, and banging my thumb, and wrenching out the neck and paper bag of organs, and then cleaning the sink with clorox---I can still smell it on my hands. And I wonder if I contaminated the spices jars with fowl germs. They are called fowl for a reason. Grinch here. It could be worse, I did not have to pluck feathers or hack off its head. Mental note. Next year get a fresh turkey and forgo this stupid weeks worth of "thawing" taking up space in the frig. At 8am, I will slip it in the oven, and fill the house with cooking turkey and sage and spices from Tastefully Simple.

Maybe a nap would improve my attitude. Or a chuckle at Cake Wrecks. I will cook it upside down. Makes the breast meat juicier, in my opinion.

Bob's Christmas poem is cute. Go check him out at The Lost Fart.

8pm The turkey turned out good and tender. But, the five of us only ate half of it, so we have plenty for leftovers tomorrow! Yippee! Cooking will be very easy.

The mashed potatoes were spectacular---a whole block of cream cheese, two sticks of butter, and seasoning. I like them garlicy, but restrained myself. And we had no room for the dessert. Ben napped during the replaying of the DVD Christmas Story. Bob's favorite. He received a 25 year edition, with an apron, and cookie cutters. James has the lamp. A small one. Then we watched the Nativity Story. What a contrast. Everyone has seen it, but it makes me cry every time.

Bob helped me wash the mattress cover and our sheets today, and it is all put back together. Nothing better than slipping between clean, wrinkle free sheets. Thank you, Bob.

I opened the present from James in order to mash the potatoes. Wonderful, powerful little Cuisinart. Shiny.

Great pictures of the grandchild. Bob even got a digital frame full. Bob thought he needed to load them, but then Andy said, no just plug it in. It was already loaded. Wow. Bob can't wait to take it to work and set it going in his cubicle. And Bob revealed he will be getting a real, live office with walls and a door in a few months. Yeah !!! It has been so distracting to try to work in a cubicle.

Fun. Fun.