Well, for our first married Christmas Eve, I got the brilliant and OVERWHELMING idea to roast a turkey. Yes, that’s right. Have I ever done this before? No. Did I watch when my mom did it all those years for holidays? Um, no. So, how did I do it? Numerous googling on “how to cook a turkey” and paranoia and nervousness seem to best describe my attempt!
I purchased a 3.5 lb. turkey breast from the supermarket last weekend and stuck it in the freezer until yesterday, when I put it in the fridge to “thaw”. When I was ready, I rubbed a mixture of Smart Balance, salt, pepper, garlic seasoning, and italian seasoning on top of it and then put it in a roasting pan, inserted my meat thermometer and put a foil tent over it. I panicked after an hour of cooking when the meat thermometer temperature was still not showing up as anything close to even 120 degrees so I googled “cooking partially frozen turkeys” and found that you can cook a turkey frozen but it would take double the time. Well, we had to be at church by 6 so I was paranoid it wouldn’t be done in time (this was at 3:30). I just reasoned with myself and thought OK, well worst case I can throw in some chicken breasts if the turkey is a flop, so then I calmed myself down.
Meanwhile, I roasted 2 medium sized butternut squashes, scooped them out, and mashed them up with a little brown sugar, maple syrup, and tons of cinnamon – it smelled SO good. The taste was unbelievable as well… Then, I made up some mashed garlic potatoes because I know they are Bill’s favorite…I set up the gravy in the pot to heat up on low heat and also got to work on roasting my brussels sprouts with garlic and EVOO, which turned out fab!
Since the turkey had still not yet popped up, we decided to eat the sides first before church and then re-cook the turkey after church, which I wasn’t a huge fan of because I figured it would be dry, but whatever. We ate a plate full of mashed butternut squash (my new FAVE), roasted brussels sprouts and a crescent roll, which was so yummy, so I was glad the veggies came out perfectly…
We cleaned up and got ready for church… meanwhile, I left the turkey roasting in the oven and was waiting until the last possible minute to turn it off, when all of a sudden I went to go turn off the oven and remove the turkey and “POP“. The turkey finally popped and of course, it was RIGHT before we had to leave. Good timing, right?
Our church service was awesome. At the end everyone held candles, they turned off the lights, and we sang silent night – it really put the meaning back into Christmas!
When we got back from church, we reheated our turkey and surprisingly, it was still moist! Here’s my plate with turkey and cranberry sauce…
Despite the fact that we had to eat our dinner in two courses, it was a yummy AND laughable dinner. Bill said “at least we have a good story to tell about our first Christmas Eve” 
We decided to each open up one of our stocking gifts tonight so we each picked out one for the other to open. Here’s what Bill got me:
Wooooooo hooooooooo! My fave coffee ever…
Here’s what I got him… he was just as happy as I was when I opened mine…
As I mentioned earlier, now we are both in our PJs on the couch, watching a Christmas Story (“you’ll shoot your eye out”), and waiting for Santa haha… I am also enjoying a delicious mug of Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride Tea (yup, I finally found it!)… now I know what the hype is all about
We will be leaving some cookies out for Santa and I think Bill and I may have to eat some of them for him… I’m kind of hungry so I think I will be eating 2 or 3
Hope Santa is good to you all!!!!!! Merry Christmas Eve!!!!!
