Guess what? Turkey butt.

Bes is in charge of the menu and starts wokking it up!

Russell is assigned the turkey.  He adds salt to brine it in the cooler.  See the ice?  That’s so we don’t all die of food poisoning.

Guess what?  Turkey butt!

The turkey enters the Traeger grill and the Tervis isn’t far behind.

I’m in charge of inedible items like place settings, serving dishes, wine glasses, and of course I make the cardboard turkey centerpiece!

Talk about eccentric – on a day of to enjoy a big family meal, good company, and lots of great eats – Russell decides TODAY is the day to pressure wash the back patio.

He sends Dave off with the shop vac to pick up stray leaves.

Russell tries to tame the planter boxes – what fancy people call “gutters” – and then stops to fix his soap dispenser.

See that water spraying into the abyss?  I notice my water bill that month is $30 higher than it’s EVER been for two years.  I tell Russell it must be from his pressure washing tirade and he says – no, that hardly uses any water at all!

A turkey walks into a grill and says to the ham…

See all that water pooling around that Russell claims his pressure washer is NOT using?  Hmm… I admit, the back patio does look like very different when it’s clean!  You can see where Russell is swirling some patterns in the concrete.

Fortunately, he takes a break from pressure washing to tend to the turkey which turns out absolutely perfect!

Dave gets to work carving the turkey – so flavorful and juicy!

Bes is showing off her multiple dishes simultaneously baking in our 1960′s oven.  It totally makes sense for ovens to be up high like this so I’m not sure why we make all ovens cooktops down low these days!

Santa Claus comes for a visit on his Triumph Tiger!  Russell eagerly runs out to tell Santa what he wants this Christmas!

Dave is doing the final touches on the ham that he brings from Honey Baked Ham.

The table is set with a nice white zin poured from a large Costco sized bottle (that is my contribution as well).

The master chef is showing off her work some more!

The Japanese tourists take photos while Emily patiently sits on her booster AKA cardboard box.

The spread is amazing!

The tourists fight for more photos of Emily and the food.

My plate has a perfect selection of homemade everything – grilled turkey, honey baked ham, mashed potatoes, cranberry, sweet potatoes, dressing, greenbean casserole, and a tasty yeast roll!

Did I mention that Russell likes to grill EVERYthing?  He also puts in a Costco pumpkin pie in the grill and serves it along with the Costco 3-pack of whipped cream.  These Costco pumpkin pies can spontaneously start parties like back in the day!

After all that good eating, we need some good exercising.  Jack and Bes break it down with Dance Central 2 on XBOX Kinect.

You can’t choose your family but you can choose your friends and sometimes friends turn into family.  Today, I finally enjoy a big meal with the family that I chose!