Thanksgiving AAR

AAR? Well in the Army an AAR is an After Action Review. You go over an event/mission and figure out how it all went. How it all came out in the end. Did you have enough stuff? Do enough? Prepare enough? Did people like it? Did it work? What would you do differently next time? It is a really good tool to mentally do so you don’t get stuck in a rut doing the bad things over and over. If your event/mission was a great success you surely want to document how you did it so you or someone else can do it to!

My Thanksgiving AAR:
Food was amazing. The kids and I made a feast to be proud of. Jon made the pumpkin pie that was quite tasty. Jeffrey peeled the potatoes. He wasn’t feeling well so we didn’t want him around much food. Jen cut up carrots, celery and onion which we sautéed in olive oil then simmered in white wine to put in the dressing. I also used half wine when putting the water in the stuffing instead of all water or broth. The wine gave it a great flavor, definitely doing that again.

But quite honestly the turkey was the best ever. Best turkey I have ever eaten let alone made. I marinated it over night and Jen basted it every 15 minutes. Basically, Dijon mustard, soy sauce and fresh lemons was the concoction. We juiced the lemons and put the rinds inside the bird (Josephine we named her). It was very juicy, had beautiful color and the taste was something to behold. We will be doing that again!

So the feasting went well. We ate very well and enjoyed each others company. Jen spent the evening going through sales ads. That meant only one thing. She wanted to go shopping on Black Friday! I had something on my side though. She didn’t have an alarm clock to wake me before dawn. We did go out and shop though. We were really not out for bargain basement prices but really just mother daughter time out shopping. We did a little damage to the lists but it was more about eating the lunch than the gifts.

Saturday we decided to get the Christmas stuff out. That was me saying to the boys “hey, would you please bring up the Christmas bins!” I had to beg and plead and then Jen and I went out shopping again. There is a new Salvation Army store she was dying to check out. The boys were to start decorating. Do the basic stuff, put up the fake tree (since we plan to go to Wisconsin for Christmas), put up the stockings etc.

Jen shopped until my knee was causing shooting pains then we went home. The boys had done as asked. They put up the tree and put up the stockings. The stocking holders that are suppose to say SANTA had been rearranged to say SATAN instead. There is also the snowman incident where they took the white bulb out of the glowing snowman and put a red one in instead. Making the SATAN sign on the mantle along with the red eyed glowing snowman all part of our "holiday" decor.

AAR on the weekend: Do marinate the turkey! But don’t leave teenage boys around to do the decorating without supervision!