Thanksgiving hits and misses

First of all I am thankful for the internet. Only by internet powers was I able to pull together a super-awesome "big girl tea party" (that's how I thought of this event in my head) and enjoy it. Overall it was a great day and I know Jason really appreciated all of my efforts. However, the day was not without a few misses, so here's the rundown:

Hit- Setting the table with the nice dishes. My 9 year old nephew was very impressed. Yes even boys appreciate the occasional fancy schmancy. And the kids liked that they were able to use the nice stuff, instead of getting paper plates.
Miss- Putting out the wine glasses. They weren't used and just cluttered up the table.

Hit- Pre-making all of my awesome side dishes. I made the yams, stuffing, and mac n cheese the day before. I also peeled and boiled my potatoes for the next day's mashed potatoes. And boiled and sliced the brussel sprouts. (I was planning to sautee with slivered almonds the next day, but we ended up with so much food I just skipped it.)
Miss- I made my own rolls. I'm going to skip this next time and just buy brown n serve rolls. It added too much work on Thursday. Either that or I need to make the rolls in advance too and just heat them up.

Hit- brining the turkey
Miss- UNDERCOOKING THE TURKEY!
Omg, biggest Thanksgiving fail. Everyone was salivating ready to eat. Jason cuts into the bird and deep down by the legs it's totally raw. Crap. So the family had to wait an extra 45 mins while the bird was cut into manageable pieces and microwaved. I apparently have no clue where to properly insert the thermometer or I didn't push it in far enough. I thought the damn thing was done!

Hit- tomato, mozzarella, and basil appetizer
Miss- because when you mess up the turkey, it's good that the kids can still grab something to eat. Fortunately once the bird was cooked it was actually tasty.

Hit- the day. Overall it was a great Thanksgiving and I think it worked out well. I enjoyed having it at the house. I'm super thankful to my in-laws because NOBODY made me feel bad about my turkey mishap. I'm super grateful to my mother-in-law in particular because she swooped in and just started fixing the whole thing (maybe she's undercooked a turkey before too...). Then she made some extra-good gravy and taught me how. I wuv her.

Internet recipes-
Pear and Gorgonzolla salad

Yams- (with less added sugar and double the crunchy topping- no marshmallows)

A touch of advice-  It's ok to step out of one's comfort-zone in a formal way instead of always getting progressively more and more casual. Several years ago we started saying grace before meals in our own family and now we say grace even at larger family functions. This can feel hard! I am especially proud of my husband because he is the one who says the public grace before meals and this isn't something he was raised at all to do. So my advice is to push back a little and make it ok again to eat on pretty plates and say a prayer. It's a small thing, and I know it can be uncomfortable at first, but my hope is that it will all be normal for our children.