Thanksgiving Memories

There was a time when we got up at 4AM and drove to KY to stand out in the cold and help people with the preparations for the Thanksgiving Day Race. We would work the race and then we were off to O' Charley's or TGIFriday's...somewhere where someone else cooked the meal and cleaned the mess up after. When I was a little girl we would drive all night to Indiana to my Great Uncle and Aunt's house. All the cousins would show up. We would sit down to dinner with about 25 relatives, so I knew and some I didn't. It was always warm in the house because there was a really big fireplace...one that you could almost stand up in. Uncle Paul had an old barn with donkeys and an indoor pool. The men would go out rabbit hunting and the rest of us would play games, sleep, watch TV or go outside to see what we could get into. Before those years we would go to my grandparents house with all our cousins and have dinner. I have always been surrounded by lots of family members at Thanksgiving. Except for those years we were in WI. This year we had to put only one leaf in the table (we have four...so you all are invited next Thanksgiving). We had the traditional meal, a whole turkey that Emmy doctored up which turned out really good...my speciality mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing requested by Bryce, Emmy's green bean casserole, my favorite sweet potato casserole, Miss Connie's cranberry salad (Mark's favorite), warms rolls, Michael's favorite, corn and carrots...Michael's special requests . Sarah's all time favorite, pretzel salad, and cranberry sauce in the can (yuck, but Em and Tini love it), an apple pie, a pumpkin pie and a new dessert made for all those that don't do well with sugar, a layered chocolate dessert and the all time favorite... sweet tea. I was going to post a picture of the pretzel salad but when I went to take the shot the dish was in the dishwasher. So I guess I'll jsut share the recipe without the picture...

Pretzel Salad

2 cups crushed pretzels

3/4 cup melted butter

4 tablespoons of sugar

Mix all of the bove and press into a 9X13. Bake at 400 degrees for 6 minutes. Cool completely.

Cream together 1 (8oz) cream cheese

1 cup sugar

1 (10oz) cool whip

Spread over cppled pretzel crust.

Mix 1 large strawberry jello

2 cups boiling water

Add 2 (10 oz) bags of frozen strawberries to jello. Stir until slightly thickened and pour over cream cheese mixture.

Cover and place in fridge for 2 hours .

We missed having Cassie and her family with us...but they are going to get to come in January, so our table with be full to overflowing. Let the chatter and endless ribbing begin!

There was a time when we got up at 4AM and drove to KY to stand out in the cold and help people with the preparations for the Thanksgiving Day Race. We would work the race and then we were off to O' Charley's or TGIFriday's...somewhere where someone else cooked the meal and cleaned the mess up after. When I was a little girl we would drive all night to Indiana to my Great Uncle and Aunt's house. All the cousins would show up. We would sit down to dinner with about 25 relatives, so I knew and some I didn't. It was always warm in the house because there was a really big fireplace...one that you could almost stand up in. Uncle Paul had an old barn with donkeys and an indoor pool. The men would go out rabbit hunting and the rest of us would play games, sleep, watch TV or go outside to see what we could get into. Before those years we would go to my grandparents house with all our cousins and have dinner. I have always been surrounded by lots of family members at Thanksgiving. Except for those years we were in WI. This year we had to put only one leaf in the table (we have four...so you all are invited next Thanksgiving). We had the traditional meal, a whole turkey that Emmy doctored up which turned out really good...my speciality mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing requested by Bryce, Emmy's green bean casserole, my favorite sweet potato casserole, Miss Connie's cranberry salad (Mark's favorite), warms rolls, Michael's favorite, corn and carrots...Michael's special requests . Sarah's all time favorite, pretzel salad, and cranberry sauce in the can (yuck, but Em and Tini love it), an apple pie, a pumpkin pie and a new dessert made for all those that don't do well with sugar, a layered chocolate dessert and the all time favorite... sweet tea. I was going to post a picture of the pretzel salad but when I went to take the shot the dish was in the dishwasher. So I guess I'll jsut share the recipe without the picture...

Pretzel Salad

2 cups crushed pretzels

3/4 cup melted butter

4 tablespoons of sugar

Mix all of the bove and press into a 9X13. Bake at 400 degrees for 6 minutes. Cool completely.

Cream together 1 (8oz) cream cheese

1 cup sugar

1 (10oz) cool whip

Spread over cppled pretzel crust.

Mix 1 large strawberry jello

2 cups boiling water

Add 2 (10 oz) bags of frozen strawberries to jello. Stir until slightly thickened and pour over cream cheese mixture.

Cover and place in fridge for 2 hours .

We missed having Cassie and her family with us...but they are going to get to come in January, so our table with be full to overflowing. Let the chatter and endless ribbing begin!