Happy Thanksgiving!

From all of us here at The New Place...we're wishing all of you, wherever you are, a blessed Thanksgiving Holiday!

We are in school today and will be tomorrow. But, we've resolved to introduce as many people as we are able to a true Western Thanksgiving Holiday. We were able to find a turkey! As my Momma has always been the turkey-fixer, I'm a bit nervous about fixing the 20 lbs bird in my over sized toaster oven!

Knowing that we came to share our lives with as many as we are able...we've got a Thanksgiving meal planned for Saturday that will max out our culinary skills as well as our housing arrangement. We have 28 people (18 adults & 10 kids) coming to our apartment on Saturday afternoon for a cross-cultural experience extraordinaire. The only Westerners present will be the H fam. Many of our guests have never even tasted turkey! (So I suppose I should feel some relief that they're not going to be comparing my turkey and fixin's to any other hostess's from the past!)

Some of our absolute favorite Thanksgiving items simply cannot be found...cranberries, corn casserole fixins and our delicious spinach dish. But we'll be taking a stab at making our own dressing/stuffing, glazed carrots, corn, rolls, mashed potatoes (mashed by hand, of course), and a broccoli casserole from our dear friend Denise S's kitchen back at the Old Place, too.

Tonight I am to make some pie crusts. I'm hoping that I have purchased enough pumpkin to craft a few pumpkin pies from scratch. I've got a pecan bar recipe that I'm going to try...but I need to SHELL the pecans first. I hope to do my new standard here, the Apple Crisp and maybe some cookies.

I'm feeling faint.

So many people, so little time...so little experience hosting such a group. Lift us up, please!

I'll write after the feast...I'm sure that there will be some crazy tales to tell!

Happy Thanksgiving! We love you all!