Thankful for Thanksgiving

Kind of funny that Mama Bird loved the mashed potatoes best because she is not much of a mashed potato eater by nature.  They were particularly good this year.  It had to be the caramelized shallots. No gravy needed.  

Besides the tators, the day was just plain old good. The kids got up watched the Macy's Day Parade and started playing board games while one of the baby birds did her school work.  Finally we ate and it was just mellow.  After dinner and PIE, the kids and I played Scattergories and giggled about our answers.  Then the chaos began...decorating for Christmas!  Which we are still working on.  And probably will be until Christmas Eve!

Best Mashed Potatoes Ever!

We had a wonderful, yummy Thanksgiving Day--around the dining room table we named some of the small things we take for granted that we are thankful for: fall leaves, fireplaces, tweezers, sunrises, socks, chocolate and much more. Baby Bird and I tried to prepare a lot of the meal ahead of time, both on Wednesday and early Thursday morning. Pies and sweet potatoes baked on Wednesday, Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce (flavored with orange and Cointreau) prepared on Tuesday, mashed potatoes early Thursday AM, along with a Cranberry and Pecan stuffing. In recent years we have opted for turkey breast as no one seems to really eat the dark meat, we had two breasts and used a sweet Apple Cider glaze on one  and the other  roasted with savory herbs (rosemary, sage and thyme, mixed with olive oil, lemon juice and dry mustard); they only needed to roast  for approximately 2 1/2 to 3 hours and while they "rested" we cooked the peas and heated rolls and stuffing. Sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes were reheated in the microwave. Turkey and cranberry sauce were SO GOOD, but the mashed potatoes: Best Mashed Potatoes EVER! When I cook, I often improvise and don't measure most ingredients so if you ever decide to try out these mashed potatoes, just use common sense on amounts:

Time to Fly

You know in real Bird life most of the time the Mother can't wait to push the babies out of the nest and into a life of their own. How different we humans are! These babies aren't going that far (they are no dummies) and it's time for them to try out their wings a little, if they don't there is no way they will be strong enough to soar out on their own. Their constant presence will be missed, but also it a time when Mother (that's you Baby Bird) and Father to enjoy a little less responsibility, take time to do the things they want to do, to establish a life OF THEIR OWN. For so many years parents sometimes seem to exist just for their always busy, always hungry, always needing something, always noisy babies. Not only is it time for the babies to spread their wings and fly, it's time for parents to do the same! Those "babies" will always return from time to time so the nest is not always going to be empty.

Out from Under....

Here I am!  Being a teacher is never and easy job, however, having 37 students is even harder!  Baby Bird has been buried in school related work for a few weeks now.  With report cards done, I can now breathe a little easier.

Mama Bird and I had been posting about the beautiful fall weather we had been experiencing.  Most of the leaves in our backyard had fallen except for one slow maple tree that was also enjoying the fall weather.  The leaves had just started to turn from green to a beautiful shade of red.  The evening light cast a tremendous glow as it permeated the branches and leaves.  Fall has said goodbye with a vengeance--our beautiful tree is now covered in a layer of snow and ice.  The Polar Vortex that we experienced last year has returned to freeze most of the upper to middle parts of the U.S. This morning we woke up to -1 degree and with the wind chill it feels more like -14 degrees.  It is so cold that my garage door has decided to sleep in and not open.

Besides work, other aspects of life have also settled down.  Both of my babies have applied to college  and both are excited about their futures.  We are excited for them.  It is both frightening and exciting to see them looking towards next year, but honestly I am sad and know that life will change so much in the next 12 months.  All three kids will be in different colleges.  At least they will be here in the state less than an hour away from home.