Pie Day

The day before Thanksgiving has been pie making day in our household for as long as I can remember.  Today's bounty: 2 pecan, 2 pumpkin, and 1 French Cranberry Apple.  And, I am tired! I have the sweet potatoes washed, pricked and ready for Woody to microwave them in the morning.  I want to cook them in the old microwave since they can be rather messy and since the old microwave is still in "Woody's room" (the family room) I decided to turn the job of getting them cooked over to him.  I will then make our favorite sweet potato casserole (your recipe, Linda H.) with them when they are cooked.  The last thing that I made today was the topping for the sweet potatoes...so that is ready to go on the casserole once I have them mashed with lots of yummy ingredients.  I have the dressing to put together, but the celery and onions are already chopped and waiting in the fridge.  Then there is the other turkey to cook and more gravy to make.  Potatoes to peel and cook for our mashed potatoes.  Wade will mash those after they get here.  That has been his job to help me out each Thanksgiving for many years.  Melany carves the turkey...of course one is already carved this year.  I still have vacuuming to do, a bathroom to clean, dishes to get out, and tables to set.  I may do a little of the table setting after I rest and get my second wind!  At the moment, I just want it to be tomorrow night at this time!  It has been a long day!  I will say that making the pie crust dough ahead and refrigerating it helped the task of pie making. It worked well for the crusts that had both butter and shortening in them.  It did not work as well for Woody's that had to be made just with shortening.  The cranberry apple pie looks good...but the crust was a bear and it is pretty much pieced together.

Woody worked around outside today...blowing leaves.  He started on blowing the leaves off the front porch.  He came in and rested for a while and Kathy finished the job for him.  He has been straightening up "his room" so we can turn it back into a family room for the day tomorrow.  And, he has done several loads of wash.  He has had a busy day, too.

I'm now waiting on a load of kitchen towels to be finished washing so I can get them into the drier.  I am sure we will need them tomorrow!

The neighbor's had Thanksgiving dinner for 21 today.  Just part of Kathy's family came.  So they have been busy today.  Several more children than usual running around out in the yard.  Sounded like they had a good day.  It was a pretty day...nice day for the children to run around after their feast. I think that it is supposed to be a bit cooler tomorrow.

Off to do a few more things before I end my tasks for the day. 'Tis the season!