PULL THE WHAT OUT OF THE WHAT!!!!

The Chef's

Miss Mary doesn't enjoy cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Last year we even resorted to deli sliced turkey sandwiches. It was awesome... but just didn't quite hit the spot. So my SIL, Kim, and I decided that it was our turn to grow up and learn how to be official woman folk and cook the meal for the entire family. 

My list of items to attempt cooking included: the turkey, green bean casserole, rolls, apple pie, banana cream pie, and gravy.
Meat scares me. I'm quite inexperienced in cooking meat. So when I saw what a raw turkey out of it's packaging looked like... I was completely and utterly grossed out by it. What in the --- are all those bumps on it, I asked Rita? Casually she explained that it's where the feathers are plucked out of the skin. Gross! Double gross! But the real fun happened when Kim watched me pull the turkey neck out of it's body. WHAT! I have to touch it!? Yes, and I did. And we almost peed our pants right there on the kitchen floor. I screamed with disgust and dry heaved more than once while we discussed the freakish touch, smell, and sight of a turkey's neck being pulled from it's body cavity. Wowzer... I sure have a new appreciation for those women who have cooked a beautiful turkey for me for the past 30 thanksgivings of my life. Imagine my equal disgust when it came to massaging butter and herbs on the pimply turkey skin... aint gonna happen people. Kim took care of that for me. I did however reach my hand all the way inside the body to stuff it with some miscellaneous seasoning items.

And after that... the rest of the dinner was history. 

Pies - easy. 

Rolls - burnt.

Green Bean Casserole - burnt and kinda gross.

Gravy - bland and runny.

Turkey - Ok, I think.

All the fixin's that Kim made were fabuluroso as well as the tasks Miss Mary handled.
The day was superb. I spent the entirety of the day with my lady friends in the kitchen and the evening watching Christmas Vacation and listening to my dad's laughter roar through the house.

FAVORITE PART OF THE ENTIRE DAY:

As my entire family sat around the table for about 45 minutes post meal and light heartedly discussed baby names for the up coming arrival. We joked about names like "buster, seven, francis, and chauncy." It was kind of a magical moment, sitting around the table with the ones I love and sharing laughter, inside jokes, and stories. I loved that we were discussing names... for a baby... my baby... the one I'm carrying in my belly. Surreal.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING