Sweets: 1 - Turkey: 0

I have always enjoyed the holidays, but this year I am more excited than ever. Thanksgiving was great! We really missed seeing everyone back home. I guess that was the big conundrum of the day. Missing family and having a great time. It was awesome Jacqueline could be there before she flew home to IL. (yea - yea I know, her arms must be tired--had to head someone off at the pass ;-)) Amongst all the people there, only 3 from the Schaidle Clan were present. Such a flip from holidays past.

At about 9 am we started prepping and cooking the bird. Wow. A 20 lb. turkey is huge! Andy did a spice rub and put a can of Guinness with espresso in the pan. Cooked it at 350* for about 4 hours covered under aluminum foil. For the last hour we took off the cover and basted it for 1.5hours. Delish! It is the juiciest turkey I have ever had. I also made some Jalapeno deviled eggs at the last minute. I think everyone loved my apple pie (thanks Teresa for the crust recipe).

Ok, so I loaded the pictures...not my best, but oh well. :) The picture above is one view of our table (blurry 'cuz I had some wine already ;-)) The below picture is from the other way...

The others are pretty much self explanatory.

Andy with his Guinness/espresso turkey

We are so looking forward to decorating for Christmas. We already know where we are going to put the Christmas tree. :) Hope you all had a wonderful turkey day and are as thoroughly stuff as I am. I had pie for breakfast. Yummmm. TTFN, Heather

Weather:
Chattanooga, TN-- Sunny 48* Wind: WNW 9 mph Humidity 47%
Bloomington, IL-- Sunny 34* Wind: Calm Humidity 76%
Aurora, IL-- Partly Sunny 37* Wind: WSW 5 mph Humidity 63%