A complete T-Giving Weekend

As mentioned many a-time the last couple of days, T-Giving Day was great. The day after the Big Day I bravely ventured into the kitchen and cooked an ENTIRE Thanksgiving Day meal so that Chad and I will have plenty of leftovers. Well, I was a bit nervous going into it (because I'm a pretty shaky cook most the time), but it went so great I want to do it again! I can't take all the credit, mother and father Paplia came to our place around 2:00 to help me clean, chop, sautee, and basically help me organize the agenda for the day. I think that my forte from here on out will be to make large banquets, instead of small dinners for just Chad and I, which is awesome, but only rarely does one need to bust out pots and pans for all 4 stove top burners in one day at one time! Here's what was on our lovely menu:

-Fred the Turkey! We successfully brined our first turkey and roasted it just the way Alton Brown told us to :)
-Stuffing! Chad was pushing for this hawaiian bread/pineapple stuffing, which I was skeptical of at first, but it
  turned out fabulously and I'm glad we went the extra mile, compliments of foodnetwork.com!
-Green Bean Casserole! This dish is my all-time favorite and always will be! Thanks Paula Dean!
-Fried Corn! (if you can't tell by the title, this is another Paula Dean delicacy!) It had bacon bits in it and was
  just awesome!
-Mashed Potatoes! I wasn't too big a fan of my mashers but Chad loved them!
-Deviled Eggs! We used the traditional Paplia family recipe!
-Celery sticks with pimento sauce and olives! Another Paplia family favorite compliments of my mama's side!

And that's about it! Chad got home right in time to carve old Fred and the Cisneros bunch arrived at 7:00 sharp with Cheryl's fabulously put together sushi/orange chicken appetizer! It was a great meal and a great night of laughing and wine-drinking with the in-laws!

Moving forward through this last weekend, AMC was having a Star Wars marathon, which sounds pretty terrible to most people but I have a sick obssession with those long, serious movies. You should have seen me when Lord of the Rings came out. On second thought, you probably would have gotten sick of watching the movie with me because I was so entranced by the story line I didn't move the entire movie. So, it was only natural that when Episodes 1-6 was on TV, I recorded every single on of them so we could sit and watch them ALL! I had only seen the first Episode in full when it came out in theaters, and I have no idea why I never went back to see 2 and 3. So Chad and I have watched Episodes 1 and 2, when he gets home tonight we will watch 3 (I'm dreading watching Annakin switch sides! NOOOOOOOO!) and then hopefully tomorrow night we will watch 4 and so on throughout the week. I'm so excited! I wanted to watch 2 and 3 in a row on Sunday, but Chad put the kabosh on that. I'm telling you, I'm one movie away from attending a Star Wars convention in full Jedi garb.........






I mean, how could not be obsessed with these sort of love stories! I'm a FREAK!


So anyway, along with great leftovers, I've had a fabulous time with my boys and I am SUPER excited to just have 3 more weeks of school left. This Sunday is Carter's first birthday (which I should be planning as we speak), the next weekend is Palm Springs with the Cisneros clan, and the next weekend after that is the first weekend without school and Carter's birthday is on the 23rd! We have quite a busy month ahead of us and I'm super excited to get started! Woo!