Hearts Full of Thanks

We've been thinking back on holiday memories and for nearly 30 years I have heard about
the infamous Carrot Pudding and Hard Sauce that Mark's paternal Grandmother made every year at Christmas. His family LOVED it! Sadly, the recipe was never really made much after she
passed away in 1978, I believe. A few years ago I had been over to visit Mark's Aunt Jana and she shared a few recipes and family stories with me. I found the notes I took and did a little research on Carrot Pudding. Mark's mom and I came up with what we thought would work well and we DID IT!

It was a fun experiment to try - but the overall vote was...
Our family likes our favorite Apple Cake & Caramel Sauce better.
Lesson learned: Keep those family favorites alive and share them!
Having never tasted the pudding or the hard sauce I just went with what I was told.
The hard sauce was described as a thick, stiff, butter-cream type sauce that was a little yellow.
Because I didn't have an old coffee can laying around - I had read where some people steam their pudding in mason jars. That's what we did and it worked beautifully!

We covered the jars with parchment and the pudding streamed for
about 2 1/2 hours in a large pot covered with a lid.

The finished product! Wish I had snapped a photo of someone eating theirs with the hard sauce
but I didn't. It was tasty and fun to try. We will absolutely be sharing our favorite Apple Cake recipe and teaching our children to how to make it. Long live tradition!

Here is the roaster that our 22 pound turkey almost fit into! We had to place weights on the top to hold the lid down. He was baked to perfection in about four hours! The poor bird was falling apart. It was probably the juiciest bird we have ever roasted!

Emily typed up our menu for us and we include it here for reference:

Firth Family

Thanksgiving Feast

Herb Roasted Turkey

Fresh Mashed Russets with Grandma’s Famous

Turkey Gravy

Three-cheese and Bacon Stuffed Mini Portabellas

Sweet Potato Surprise

Boston Parker House Rolls

Served with Hidden Village Honey™ and Homemade Jam

Caramel Pecan Rolls

Deer Hollow Stuffing with Apples and Pine Nuts

Jason’s Self-Dressed Garden Salad

Raw Vanilla-Cranberry Sauce

Rosemary-Jalapeño Hummus with Organic Crackers

Freshly Steamed Peas and Asparagus

Desserts

Heavenly Lemon Meringue Pie

Mandy’s Pecan Pie

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Grandma Dorothy’s Carrot Pudding and Hard Sauce

We actually served the Carrot Pudding on Thanksgiving Eve. The Pumpkin Cheesecake was so yummy. I used real ginger cookies from a favorite bakery for the crust. And I will confess that Mark & I enjoyed the leftovers of the Pecan Pie for several breakfasts following Turkey Day!!

We set an eclectic table featuring our favorite pewter goblets and these very sweet plates given to me by Grandma Doris many years ago. They came from England and we love them. (long live the Queen :)

Grandma Marie gave Lindsey & Emily a lesson on making a perfect batch of gravy
because she does, every time!

And Mark took notes from Grandpa Ronald as he prepared his famous mashed potatoes!

So sorry I missed Molly in this shot...you can catch the tip of her head. She loved her
1st Thanksgiving meal, especially the sweet, green peas. (Camber really is happy) And we
loved having Uncle Jason here to share the day with us! xo Our hearts are full and we feel very blessed as a family to have a warm place to be and each other. {We missed our kids in Portland and Maryland very, very much today. We know they were sharing love and traditions as well.}

Everyone's favorite!

Lindsey's first try at a Lemon Meringue ~ Well done!

I am thankful for adorable little grandchildren that take warm, sudsy baths in our tub!
Molly found curlers in a drawer and presented them to her mother. What a girlie she is!

How we all felt after our delicious meal.

Winter has arrived and we won't be picnicking at our table for awhile.

Instead we will enjoy walks in the snow....

Below Sandor & Mark

(Sandor is one of our favorite people!)

Tying flies...

(Don't you love how they have maneuvered the desk to have view of the game?

And creating cute things!

Spoiler Alert !

***

*****

for Miss Elsie and my cute little niece in England, Miss Felicity and their mamas.

Lindsey and I had so much fun making these little holiday dresses for Molly & Elsie!

And a peek at what is going in the mail to Felicity - today!

(And Dani, Elsie's Blue Dress should be finished soon!)