Pre Thanksgiving Rocks Once More!

Oh, the holiday season has been officially kicked off. I have already been knitting presents stocking up on fabric for gifts, combing through ideas but our Pre-thanksgiving celebration with the friends we love so dearly truly is the first official celebration with many more to come. This is the forth Sunday prior to thanksgiving that we have had "our" holiday. This year to add to it, I got to spend some extra time with my most fabulous niece, Kaylin before she had to return to WI, so this is a rundown of the whole perfect day.

First for those who don't know I am on a huge baking kick, I am on a quest to become better, love making cookies (not that I need them) have been loving making baked breakfast items (my scones are starting to kick ass) and also I absolutely love pecan pie, it is a must have this week, and not something that I have really any other time of year. In the past I have been delighted to make my pecan treats with friends families farmed pecans, this year I had to rely on Schnucks, which didn't disappoint. I tried to involve the kids, they are great at watching the mixing process, and like mushing the dough, but than I had to take over and let them play on their own.
This is how the cookies looked prior to baking them. Oh how they smelt of pecan pie. The recipe was simple and straight forward and sure to be a hit for anyone. I didn't know how many cookies I could expect, so I ended up with 40 for a double recipe, but the recipe states that you can get 3 dozen out of one confirming that yes, I could make this cookies more bite size. I would also like to put a plug in here about how much I love my sil pat, such a wonderful thing.

And the cookies looked great with the indian corn, all done, pecan pie looking and oh so delicious.

After the cookies, we had to bid farewell to our guests and move onto more serious business. A nap for Asher, cleaning for the parents and the spice rub for the turkey, bacon fat, garlic and herbs from outside. And the decorating of the table, a very important step.

Upon Asher awake, we made stuffing in a massive bowl.

And had enough down time to enjoy an afternoon beer....

Before heading to the park and enjoying the slide.

And then our guests arrived. Although some hadn't had such an enjoyable weekend as us and they weren't able to join, we missed them a lot and hope that all of the kiddos are doing okay today!!

The dessert table looked great.

Ben made a chocolate hickory nut (his b-day present from the Madison farmers market) tort and Eric's mom brought a pecan apple pie. And the cookies, oh so good!

The Glessners were able to join us a bit later and add to the fun for Asher, he was lonely as the only kid under 11. Luca double fisted his dessert:

And the table this morning full of empty bottles, lots of glasses, scraps of dessert, a great reminder of all we have to be thankful for.