Fun week

Saturday was so fun, it was super good food as we cooked a thanksgiving holiday style feast. Juicy turkey breast roast brined for a few hours. Dressing with fresh sage. Homemade cranberry sauce with orange. Perfect mashed potatoes and creamy turkey gravy. Hal and Christina made pecan pie that was so flaky and so rich. Rebecca finished off the desert with some homemade ice cream. We had Mom and Dad over as well as Hillary and Randy and played Imagine If... which was fun, but I feel Dad gets a little too much crap from us when we do.

Nathan and his family came over on Sunday. We had a blast with them and probably kept them around much longer than they planned on, missing church entirely. Hillary and Randy's Nintendo Wii was perfect for playing with kids who have 5 minute attention spans. Jimmy is now 13 and both his sisters are grown ups as well. Sugar cookies were made and frosted, I only ate one and am so proud. Sunday night was a birthday party for Randy, I took over more pecan pie and enjoyed some very good pasta and meatballs, pasta and alfredo sauce, pasta and brown butter / mizithra cheese. It was like something from the Spaghetti Factory only 1000 times better. I had to leave early from that party to come and play Puerto Rico with Christina and Hal, we could not let them leave without playing at least one round.

Now for a rant:
I have decided, their is nothing wrong with having extra food go to waste or to discard food, especially when it is the holidays and you are overwhelmed with food at every turn. Without any guilt, I toss plates of cookies and food gifts seconds after the person delivers them into the garbage. I don't care if the food is store bought or homemade. Problem is now my garbage is full. Sometimes I don't even open and smell them or taste them.

It has nothing to do with disliking the holidays. I like the holidays, love time off from work. Gifts. Yes. I like these. Come sing a carol at my door. Hand out a card with a message about Christmas or the Savior. Tell me you don't believe in Christmas and are celebrating winter solstice, just don't give me a candy cane. Do some service like shovel some widow's icy driveway. Donate blood. Smile at strangers. Put money in those salvation army cans. Let people turn in front of you while driving. Adopt an orphan. Or two. Develop a talent then share it. Read a book then tell me about it. You get the picture. Food gifts have been done to death. It is time to be more creative and simplify. Pray more. Stress less.