Large Family, Real Food, Low Income Thanksgiving

Unfortunately, I had BIG PLANS and little energy for Thanksgiving since we got slammed with the stomach flu the day before Thanksgiving (I;m talking on-the-toilet-with-a-bucket-on-the-lap-make-me-a-bed-on-the-bathroom-floor-for-24-hours-oh-another-person-puking-in-the-other-toilet SLAMMED), AND Alex and I just got back from traveling to several countries in the Middle East so were severely jet lagged.

Here's a glimpse of coming out of the delirium Thanksgiving morning. Alex said he woke up 8 hours after getting home from work to Aryeh asleep on his chest, all the kids asleep and a Thanksgiving feast for the house mouse plated generously across the main living area:

It ended up being a sort of a blessing in disguise. 

Even though we didn't get to have our usual big Thanksgiving with extended family, I got to provide breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert all myself without spending much more then our allowed $150 a week. 

Every Year we have our tradition of making cinnamon rolls from scratch the night before Thanksgiving and then passing them out fresh and hot from the oven to the neighbors. However, because we were SO sick, Alex went and bought cinnamon rolls from Cub. We heated those up and ate ours, passed out the neighbors and watched the parade.

My plan was to have my few dishes made for my mom's ahead of time, but that didn't happen. After watching the parade, I had the kids start putting together a spread of appetizers to get us to dinner. They did fantastic!

Meanwhile, I started on my healthy versions of my Pecan and Pupkin Pie. 

We timed it well since we had to walk to the store to get our rotissary chickens from the Natural Food Store near us. I threw a pie in the oven and set my timer as we walked out the door. We got back home with 2 minutes left on my timer. PARFAIT!!! 

Then Ahavah helped me make our green bean casserole (healthy version all from scratch) and my root vegetable stuffing. Thankfully I had some green beans from the Farmer's Market I chopped and froze in the back of my big freezer!

As I was wrapping up my husband requested good old mashed potatoes (which I have a LOT of potatoes on hand), so I peeled and boiled those babies while I put my feet up. 

Dinner was served! 

So full, and still a little queasy, we cleaned up and took out all our Christmas decorations.

When that was finished we ate pie, snuggled up and watched Boss Baby (HILARIOUS!) until we all nearly passed out. 

All in all, a healthy Thanksgiving staying within our normal budget, excluding the surprise of the stomach flu and needing to provide a meat for dinner. :) 

God is Good!

Now we have left overs to last me a few days so I can start potty training Aryeh!! (PRAY FOR ME!)