Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

There are so many things to be thankful for today! I am thankful for a happy healthy Baby Toddler! I am so IN LOVE with my husband! We have a lovely home. Happy enough to have our First Thanksgiving here in South Dakota...and G-pops and D were here to enjoy it....even in the bitter cold...wind chill today, 0 degrees Fahrenheit....BALMY!:) Some people I know don't believe in luck, maybe they believe in kharma-or the like, but I believe whole-heartedly in both. We, as a family, do the best that we can every day; be the best people that we can be everyday, treat everyone that we meet with respect, and sometimes to keep our sanity (one very wise lady) told me that "you have to let the rough end drag". All the rest, my friends, is gravy!

So it was quite the calm day...I know, despite the bitter cold, I have no family drama to report. Dalen and I started cooking last night, so that today would not be so hectic (so, I totally had a freak out moment, when we almost didn't have enough space to put ALL of the stuff coming out of the oven...butcher block in the kitchen on the checklist of renovations!). And it helped. We started cooking at 10 am and we ate around 2 pm. Perfect. Perfect. What did we have? The real question is what didn't we have? Keep in mind when you see the following people, there were four adults and wonderful Westin (and CopperDog by way of Westin) partaking in this meal......

For this meal, Dalen had to take apart a Duck...a feet never before attempted. Despite not having the correct butchering knives, Dalen totally ROCKED IT! Whole beautiful duck:butchering: raw breasts + oysters plus pieces of the leg:Beautiful Thanksgiving table...a lovely centerpiece would clearly not have fit. Now, we had a brined turkey as a back-up plan. But I have to say, those of you out there who have never had duck and have only thought of it as this greasy waterfowl, well, stand to be corrected! Just in case you are wondering, duck is SO YUMMY-GOOD! I mean, Hello-Heaven-in-my-happy-little-mouth good. And if you don't believe me, just have Dalen over to cook it for you, and you will be a true believer!
Needless to say, we had a lovely meal and plenty of leftovers. To round off the day, we had an Old Rucks/New Moore family tradition: a viewing of National Lampoon's Christmas Family Vacation. Hope that your cups runneth over as well....Happy Thanksgiving!!!!! To all of the family and friends that couldn't be with us today: SALUDE!