Thanksgiving and HBBC

Monday night, we had a group of friends over to our apartment for a pre-Thanksgiving feast. We did it potluck style; I cooked the turkey (and a few other dishes) and everyone brought one dish to share. Now, I have never cooked a turkey before. I talked myself up for a couple of days prior to the cooking of Tom the Turkey, saying to myself (mainly out loud in public) "you can do this, you can do this". It wasn't the cooking I was worried about, it was the removal of the gut bag (giblets) and the de-necking. Yes, for those of you who are turkey virgins--you have to pull the neck out of the otherwise empty turkey cavity. I researched this for days on end, finally sticking to a fairly easy-to-follow youtube video.

I had a brief moment of panic on Monday morning, that quite possibly may have consisted of some screaming and jumping around in the kitchen, followed by a few shed tears (almost!) and a serious consideration of going to Bojangles for a box of fried chicken. And yes, I will admit I talked to Tom, apologizing over and over again for violating him by reaching through his underside to pull out his neck. At one point, I call my mom telling her "I can't do this, there's no way I can reach inside the vagina to pull out the neck". To which she responded, "How can his name be Tom if he has a vagina?" Then she reminded me that I used to help deliver babies, I could do this. But I assure you, it is not the same.

I did ultimately scream my way through the neck removal process and get Tom in the oven. The turkey came out great, if I do say so myself. My husband even said it was better than any turkey his mom ever made (I told him to please not tell her that, I'd like to stay on the good list with the inlaws).

We had a great time--12 people in all were here, and we definitely feasted! Jett and I are so thankful for the friends we've made in our short time living in Charleston. They definitely have helped it to feel like home.

We head to Charlotte tonight. The Turkey Trot 8K is tomorrow morning, and after that we will head to Jett's mom's house for lunch.Then to my dad's side for dinner. Friday we'll go see Jett's dad's family, and Saturday we'll have our Thanksgiving with my family on my mom's side. I am so thankful that all of our immediate family lives within a 30ish mile radius of one another, but this is what all holidays consist of. And this year, my mom's family is even planning around everyone else instead of packing it all into one day.

With all the eating and football watching that is sure to go on this week, I definitely need the motivation of the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge. I signed up for the HBBC to redeem myself from my lack-luster performance in the POTM challenge, which I have totally sucked up. My HBBC start has been slow (read: non-exsistent). I fully plan to redeem myself tonight once we get to Charlotte. Team members, I will make it up over the next month, you have my word!

I try to remind myself daily of all of the blessings in my life, and thank God daily for all that I have to be grateful for. It's so easy to get caught up in the worldly ideals of money, materials, and things that just don't matter all that much. This past year has definitely held trials for Jett and me, as we've gone from single people with adequate paychecks, to a married couple with a single income and a load of student-loan debt. Somehow though, everytime we think we won't have enough to make it through the month, God provides. I keep reminding myself and Jett that's it's only a few more months, and I will be contributing financially again. We are so fortunate in all that we have, and these blessings are definitely not lost on us. Each time in the past few weeks that I've let myself slip into a moment of self-pity of covet, there has been a blatant reminder to "count my blessings". There are so many so much less fortunate than me, and for all that I receive I should be paying it forward.

Today in particular I am thankful for answered prayers--for the bills that I have been putting off this week and the money in our account that sufficiently covered all of them this morning. And that's just enough to make me happy today!

What are you blessed with in your life? What was your simple moment of happiness today?