A Thanksgiving Feast!

This is for those of you who have never experienced an American Thanksgiving dinner. Not all Americans enjoy a feast of food like this on Thanksgiving. Some have to work, some don't have the money to fix so much food, and some actually prepare and eat more than we do. It's quite a bit more food than we need to eat or even are comfortable eating...but it's tradition.

Even though Thanksgiving was being hosted by my mother and father, we spent several days preparing our dishes. Nancy fixed her famous green bean casserole, I baked several varieties of bread rolls, and Jacob baked a pumpkin pie (shown below) and also a pumpkin cheesecake.
When we arrived at my parents home my Mom and Dad were already busy cooking. They are a great team in fixing meals and also cleaning up.

The turkey was baking in the oven and my mother was starting to fix the gravy (sauce). Gravy is made with the fat drippings from the turkey, milk and a little flour. The stove is electric powered.

The turkey cooks for about four hours. It fills the home with a delicious scent which makes you very hungry. Finally the turkey was done; ready to come out of the oven.

Here's the cooked turkey. This one was about 7.5 kilos before it was cooked. The turkeys are sold in the store frozen or fresh (not frozen). If you buy a frozen turkey then you have to plan ahead as they take three or four days in the refrigerator to thaw out.

My Dad is the turkey chef. He likes to cook, just like Jacob and I do.

Meanwhile Jacob got a lesson from his Grandmother on how to make gravy. We encouraged him to pay attention because we want him to cook for us in the future.

Jacob jumped in and took charge of the mashed potatoes. Grandpa peeled and cooked them. Jacob just had to run a hand mixer through them to break the cooked potatoes up into small pieces and then mix them with butter and a bit of milk. Mashed potatoes are an important part of the Thanksgiving meal as you make a bowl out of them and fill it up with gravy.Dad let the turkey cool for a few minutes, then began scooping out the dressing or stuffing. This is made of crumbled bread, turkey broth, spices, celery, and ground beef. It is quite delicious!

Jacob enjoyed the best part of mashing the potatoes, which is licking off the beaters.

Dad continued working on the turkey, carving off slices of meat and putting them on a platter.

Jacob finished his mashed potatoes job by spooning them into a bowl, ready to be served.

Finally we sat down at the table. We were all very hungry. My parents already have their Advent calendar hung on the wall (it looks like a Christmas tree) even though Advent doesn't start for another week. They are ready!

Jacob is ready to eat! We were joined by a neighbor who lives near my parents. They invited him to join us when they learned he would be alone for the day.

Here's a closeup view of Jacob's plate. You may not believe this, but he ate two plates of food like this!

Jacob did declare himself to be "full" after the second plate. After laying down for a few minutes he was ready for dessert.
Here's proof of Jacob's eating. He even worked on one of the big turkey legs.
Dessert is an important part of the Thanksgiving feast and is sometimes a bit of a challenge after eating the huge main part of the meal. For our dessert we enjoyed two kinds of pie - pecan and pumpkin, and two cakes - pumpkin cheesecake and carrot.
Afterwards we went for a walk through the neighborhood to get a little exercise and let our food settle.