Thanksgiving is HARD!!

Last year, Andrew and I missed Thanksgiving because we were on our honeymoon! This year, my mom made a great Thanksgiving dinner while we were home in October, BUT I didn't want the day to go by here without participating! Since Bernie and Alison hosted us for Halloween, I thought it would be a good idea to invite them over for Thanksgiving dinner. Bernie is one of our extremely few American friends (well, friends in general) so we wanted him to come. The Aussies Johnny and Corinne came and Andrew's co-worker Kenna, and her partner Neal also came. 

I cooked the ham and chocolate cake the day before because I was worried about having enough time to cook everything else on my massive list. I just wanted everything to be like my Thanksgiving at home! I would also like to remind the readers, that our teeny tiny kitchen here has  a teeny tiny oven so logistics were a must. 

The day of Thanksgiving, we put the Turkey in bright and early and then it was prep prep prep. My menu consisted of Apps - veggies and hummus, and Johnny said he was bringing Tzatziki so Andrew wanted to grill and cube chicken to go with that as well (because my veggies weren't good enough) and added BBQ and Buffalo sauce to the trio; Mains - turkey, ham, stuffing, pineapple casserole, mac & cheese, asparagus, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce; and the Dessert - brown sugar and coconut cookies, homemade chocolate cake and raspberry icing with raspberry toppers, and some cakes and Christmas pudding that Bernie and Alison brought. 

It literally took me ALL day to cook everything, right up until an hour before I was planning to serve dinner (which was at 7 pm!). I was "knackered" (as Johnny called it). The turkey came out GREAT! I was a little disappointed that with my one small oven, everything else was a little bit on the cool side when we served, but people went back from seconds so I think that was a good sign!! 

The best part was, that everyone in the group got along so so well!! There are a lot of big and great personalities in that group, and for the few hours everyone was here our living room was full of laughing and stories. It was great! Bernie and Alison, and Kenna and Neal left around 10 pm and Johnny and Corinne stayed and chatted until almost 11. 

I was really happy with our Thanksgiving! Not too bad for my first shot. The stuffing came out particularly well :) Andrew and I ate leftovers all day Friday. I was exhausted all day Friday as well. I have learned that Thanksgiving is a collaborative holiday and that next year, I am DEFINITELY delegating!