What a great weekend, with very little thought of the dark past.
First, the relatively inconsequential stuff. Even though the bird was more done than I was going for as a result of losing track of time when my cousin-in-law and his wife got here, it didn't get dried out because of it. I almost decided against using my frozen mincemeat from last year because I thought it looked too mushy, but changed my mind after test-tasting it. What a great decision. And I remembered from last year that even though the pie crust recipe says to roll it out to a quarter-inch thickness, that's really too thick. I rolled them that thick, then took the guide wheels off the rolling pin to roll it just a bit thinner. Turned out perfect, for both my mince pie and the two pumpkin. The decision to get an extra turkey breast also turned out great. I don't think we'd have run out of meat, but wouldn't have had much left over for soup and sandwiches. I also remembered to add a bunch of broth to the fabulous stuffing that I reprised from last year, since I don't cook it inside the bird. It was much moister as a result, and I also remembered to add an extra cup of diced apple; between the two corrections it was even more delicious this year than last! I did forget about the strawberry applesauce I'd planned, but it isn't as if anyone lacked enough to eat.
It was fabulous having our oldest and her children with us, and our oldest grandson's girlfriend, too. I don't think that our daughter realizes that she was the main reason why dinner was so late getting to the table - we couldn't really proceed without the mashed potatoes, and she didn't get here in time to have them done at the time we specified for dinner, but that wasn't the end of the world, either, and the only complaints about dinner being late were from her kids.
After dessert and a minor panic when our oldest daughter mistook some splatters on the side of her truck for scratches in the dark - and let's spare her the speculation over where I think the roots of that might lie - we headed south to Tim and Kathie's place to hang out with them for another day. Our dog did great on the drive, and once he got used to being around the other dogs he had a nice visit, too. We got there too late to watch the entire DVR'ed Ravens' game, but I had listened to it in the car and knew the outcome. We speed watched the first half, then saved the second for Friday morning while Kathie was replacing the ingredients I'd left behind in our efforts to get out the door. The soup was better than ever, thanks to some fresh sage and Kathie's recommendation to use frozen noodles rather than dried. Oh, my, what a difference the latter made! We finally got my wife caught up on An Unexpected Journey while I worked on the soup. Then started in on The Hunger Games while waiting for it to be time to head out to Thor, The Dark World. It was a nice piece of entertainment; they're making some nice comic-book movies lately, but let's face it: they're comic book movies. Still, we all enjoyed it, so that's more of an observation than a complaint. Then we headed home, where we finished watching The Hunger Games with a piece of pie and, for those of us so inclined, a glass of port.
Kathie was scheduled to work on Saturday, and Tim was slated to be at the model race car track, so we headed toward home by around ten. It was a gorgeous, sunny day for a drive, and we listened to the Big Game along the way, which I watched the rest of when we got home. In our 27 years here I've successfully avoided being infected by Buckeyes' fanhood - which will pay off as Maryland joins the "B1G Ten," but it seemed unfair to me that a team could not lose a game in two years and still get shut out from a shot at the national title (even if last year was their own fault because of sanctions). The game was thrilling. I then got in a short bike ride, and after getting home watched the Iron Bowl, which turned out to have an even more exciting finish than the OSU-UM game. Wow. The Buckeyes still have business to take care of next week, and I won't be heartbroken if they should lose, but they belong in the title game if they win, and now they should be there. I can't imagine a one-loss Auburn team would beat them even with their victory over the Tide.
Now, to shower and get to mass for the first Sunday of Advent.
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