Monday, November 28, 2011

Thanksgiving and Hayden's Hair

This Thanksgiving was to be our very first (and last) in our own home.  Paul and I had planned the whole meal out: what we were having, what dishes or pans we would bake them in, where we would buy them, even how much they would cost.  i talked to my mom, Paul's mom, and Paul's grandma to ask them how they cooked their turkeys.  Seriously, we were ready.  Paul even got a turkey from his work for a Thanksgiving present!  It was on.  We were excited to try this meal on our own for the first time. 


Then Grandma Sutton called.  Ha ha, I love this woman for her generous nature--she's always giving and trying to take care of you.  Grandma knows what's best!  Ha ha.  So 3 days before Thanksgiving, we were invited to Thanksgiving at Grandma's house.  Paul and I set our plans aside and decided to go to grandma's.  I was assigned the rolls, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, and vegetable tray.  (don't worry, they were awesome.  I made butt roles and they were SOOOO good.)


When I got to grandma's, I expected to see a turkey, some mashed potatoes and gravy, and some sweet potatoes.  Oh my goodness, there was sooo much more!  This woman likes to cook!  In addition to the aforementioned, there was a ham, jello salad (grandma is famous for it), stuffing, apple pie, lemon pie (all of which were made with homemade crusts), and I'm sure I'm forgetting something.


ANYWAYS...my reason for writing about this was to explain why we finally got to cooking our turkey last night.  Did I mention that?  Yeah, yesterday we decided to cook it.  For one, we went to grandma's for dinner, and two, the turkey took FOREVER to defrost.  I put it in the fridge the sunday before Thanksgiving and by Thursday morning, I could tell it was still frozen.  Awesome.  Ha ha.  

These pictures were taken the first time we took the turkey out .  Yeah, it wasn' done.  You can still see the pinkness under the skin.  You can also see the thyme that we stuffed under the skin.  SOOOO yummy.


So we cooked it.  We melted butter and put it and some thyme between the skin and the breast.  I poured chicken broth over it and layered numerous pats of butter on the turkey.  I put the turkey in and after 3.5 hours took it out.  I cut it open and, although the skin was gorgeous, the bird was STILL not done!  (My advice...don't pay to much attention to the time when you cook a turkey.  Just watch the little turkey timer in it's breast).  The bird went back in, and, after another 1.5 hours, were took it out.  Paul was sure it was dry as bone.  I was soooo sad.  We cut into it though and it was amazing---it was so juicy and tender!  The thyme and chicken broth had given it an amazing flavor.  SUCCESS.


Ok.  The turkey.  There you go.


On to Hayden's hair.  I have trimmed on Hayden's hair since he was born; it has never scared me.  When I noticed that it was really starting to get long, I kept trimming the sides, but I was a little nervous to give him the big chop!  Two nights ago I decided that it was finally time.  I hope with everything that it wouldn't turn out horribly unblended, but it's not like I have been trained to cut hair!  I sat Hayden on my lap and gave him something to play with as I cut almost an inch off of his head.  
Sorry the lighting is kind of bad...I took the picture this morning while it was still dark.  There's no  substitute for good natural light!


Oh my goodness I was so nervous.  But then I realized I was done....and it looked AWESOME.  yessssss.   The sides are short and it tapers up to a longer top.  His hair is even blended so that you can't see any cut marks (for the most part.  I mean...he's only 9 months and didn't exactly hold still).  Somehow with my trusty scissors, however I pulled it off.  Now he looks like such a big boy!

2 comments:

  1. One thing I've decided about Turkeys is that they are NEVER predictable. You think you have enough time to thaw it...nope! You think you know when it's going to be done...nope! And you think you know how it will turn out...nope! But it's kind of fun to do anyway!!! Glad yours turned out so well. It looks yummy! And nice haircut. Mary has yet to know what that is...ha ha ha!

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