A great Thanksgiving!

We have had a long few days but they have been great! We hosted Thanksgiving for our 6th time and everything was perfect. Garrett smoked another wonderful turkey. If you have never had a smoked turkey before you have got to try it. It is so juicy, unlike an oven roasted turkey.
Our morning started with the Macy's parade. Can you see who is on the screen?

Elmo!! The boys were like statues when the Sesame Street characters took their turn at singing and dancing. Jack did quite a bit of dancing himself.

I like to get all of my cooking done early so that I have a clean kitchen when all of my guests arrive (surprise, surprise). My extremely wonderful neighbor, Kedra, let me borrow her oven since they weren't going to be home. So I pre-made the mashed potatoes and stuffing, placed a damp towel across them and covered them with tin foil. FYI-the damp towel keeps the food from drying out. Then we headed next door and placed them on warm in her oven. This worked out so well because everything was very hot when we were ready to eat. I had the yams and mac and cheese in my oven so they were hot too. As our guests arrived with a dish, Garrett would run them over to Kedra's oven so they would stay warm. Can you tell having hot food is a big deal to our family? :)
At one point all the men were outside soaking in the aroma of the turkey in the smoker.

My little handsome devils wanted outside too.

Here our my Uncle Johnny and Aunt Frances, along with my dad. These are his aunt and uncle. They were like grandparents to my brother and I when we were growing up and I was thrilled that they came to our house this year.

Here is Uncle Johnny with my dad. Do you see the family resemblance? Do you also see where Jack gets his looks? :)

The turkey is now in the house and the fellas are checking it out.

Mrs. Bullard and my boys. Mrs. Bullard is like a mother to me. She and her hubby are from England so they always join us for Thanksgiving. It wouldn't be the same without them.

My brother and Jack. Go back and look at the picture of my dad and Uncle Johnny, then come back to this one. It is 4 generations of look-alikes. (Jack has a mouthful of food.)

Can you tell that we had the football game on?

Of course I forgot to take pictures during dinner but it was all so delicious.

Thursday night Garrett's grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousin all drove in from Enid, OK. We got up and had Thanksgiving with them on Friday and Garrett's folks house. They hadn't seen the boys since they were about a month old and just got a kick out of them. Luckily the boys were on their best behavior. They would just walk up to Garrett's grandma and aunt, put their arms up, and love on those sweet ladies. I think it made their day. It sure made my day to see my little guys being so sweet. We spent the weekend catching up with family before they headed back home this morning. We took our camera but, once again, forgot to take any pictures. :(

All in all we had a great Thanksgiving weekend and are thankful for all of our wonderful family and friends!!