All is well

The turkey came out about an hour later than i expected. I was nervous the whole time, but the appetizers and soup held everyone over (plus, for many, I was their second stop), and they kids were enthusiastic with charades and Scrabble. I'm glad I kept the old Scrabble board.

My turkey was beautiful... juicy, tender, flavorful. The only hiccup was I forgot the green beans in the fridge.

Other notes:
- While the pinwheels tasted good, they were gross to make, and looked like little mutant things. There is clearly a technique that was left out of the instructions that was vital to their creation.
- I got so nervous with the turkey, that I overcooked the stuffing a tiny bit. Not too bad, but I shouldn't do that.
- Tiny burns (on my body) seem to be inevitable. Take the time to ice them.
- Guests won't bring wine unless you ask them. That last-minute jumbo-jug is worth it, but you should make them pitch in. Lazies.
- All Thanksgivings have someone who drinks too much and does something embarrassing (OK, in my family, they didn't need to drink too much to do the embarrassing thing); bonus if one of your guests brings the embarrassing person as a date, so you know you never have to see them again and can make fun of them indiscriminately.

All in all, an awesome first dinner. I missed having a formal "grace"... I miss taking a moment to think of the people not at the table, since there were so many not at the table for me this year.

Two of my students came. One said she never liked stuffing or cranberry sauce until now. The other said his earlier dinner was "unspiced" compared to mine; that his was more meant for old people, while mine was more flavorful. Worst part about getting old and still having to eat.

Oh, and pumpkin rice pudding is the bomb.