<p>I have to admit I am jealous too! D2 will not be home for Thanksgiving either. Takes an entire day of travel to get from East Coast to West Coast. D thought that she had only 4 days off for Thanksgiving but turns out that she could have missed Mon and Tuesday. The school gave everyone Wedmnesday off. Perhaps we will know better next year.</p>
<p>D1 made it home last week from her Study Abroad semester and she says it feels weird not having her little sister home. 25 days until I see D2!!!</p>
<p>Aloha and TessaR, sorry you won’t have kids with you for Thanksgiving, hope they have somewhere nice to go! To all of you awaiting flights, hope that it all goes smoothly and that everyone arrives home safely!</p>
<p>FogFog’s kiddo is a very nice kid as my daughter will attest to, they live in the same dorm and she often goes to the room to get math help from kiddo’s roommate and Kiddo, they also hang out and do stuff on occasion. Says also says they have the neatest (as in clean)room she has ever seen so not surprised about the help around the house. So good job FogFog, not only an accomplished athlete but a nice guy as well!</p>
<p>Am so enjoying this rainy day! S is reading a book, D1 and Friend went to mall with D4, D3 (2015 kid) and her friend are working on their art projects, have a movie going, drinking tea and eating toffee…</p>
<p>Made my stuffing this morning got into a discussion with the two International kids about Stuffing vs. Dressing and how people from different areas put different things in them, which got me to thinking what do you all put in your stuffing…? I saute breakfast sausage with onion, celery and then add craisins, and use Arnold stuffing/bread mix, Poultry seasoning and Chicken broth. I used to use Cranberries as that is how my mom always made it growing up, she is from New England but found Craisins much easier and a bit sweeter. What do you all do or do you have a special dish that you always have to make?</p>
<p>EAO that stuffing sounds so delicious. As a child my mom always made cornbread stuffing. I was never a huge fan. I always use a bag of Pepperridge Farms breadcrumbs and add sauted onion and celery. Also make with chicken broth. This year I might try the sausage and onion with the craisins. It sounds really yummy:)<br>
What type of sausage do you use??</p>
<p>Thanks for the compliments re kiddo.
When kiddo started school–in kindergarten, I expected bed to be made before leaving for the day.
By middle school Kiddo was responsible foe putting away own clothes etc.
This is a non-drama kid. Very hard worker. Sweet humble disposition.
Kiddo would be very embarassed I even told you that this summer saw a int’l gold medal…This kid keeps a low profile. Not a big talker, lets modelling the leadership speak for itself…</p>
<p>My younger kiddo–despite my best attempts with the same rules etc…is not there yet. However in the last year the drawers are in MUCH better shape as is the closet. Bed gets made about 20% of the time… However this kiddo has some culinary skills, and so that help is much appreciated. </p>
<p>I have pics from last year of both of my kids rolling out pinwheel cookies–whereby it was 2 doughs, one of hazelnut and the other of expresso/choc --You lay the two on eachother, Roll up like a jelly roll and chill. Then slice across/see the swirl…meanign it was alot of work!
They made those andthen Italian wedding cookies by hand.
Rolled 2-3 lbs of meatballs, made bread etc.</p>
<p>All this is to say I want them to have some life skills: basic handyman stuff, yard work, cooking, laundry, bill paying, travel arrangements, setting a table, washing dishes, writing thank you notes, excellent table manners etc etc etc…
So little by little we are making progress… I don’t want my kids’ future spouses (and kiddos’ future inlaws) thinking my kiddos’ were raised by wolves !! haha</p>
<p>On stuffing/dressing… My mother makes one that came from my grandmother…
a cornbread base. Apples, celery, onions. Had raisins soaked in sherry I think. I like craisins too. None of my crew is big on the stuffing/dressing and so unless we are entertain extedned family, I dont make it just for me. :(</p>
<p>We have friends whose stuffing/dressing includes oysters. Very yummy! He was from the Eastern Shore of MD</p>
<p>TessaR, It is delicious, I used Jimmy Dean’s Breakfast sausage, (but any brand will do) the kind in the roll, I get the traditional flavor but one time got the sage flavor. I saute the onions and celery in butter, and do the sausage in a different pan, its crumbled like ground beef, I drain the fat from the sausage and then add back into the onion and celery mix then add crasins and poultry seasoning to taste, add bread crumbs/stuffing mix and chicken broth till moist, then either stuff into turkey (not recommended anymore but I do it) or bake in a casserole. </p>
<p>Fogfog,apples sounds good as well, could probably add that into mine as Craisins and apples compliment each other. My best friend makes hers with Oysters as well as a lot of my neighbors,it comes from living in that neck of the woods, although this year the Oysterman have been dredging up lots of dead oysters so it will be pricey. They say the Hurricane washed too much fresh water into the Chesapeake Bay and killed a lot of them in the Northern part of the bay.</p>
<p>Fog: Thanks for the link to the flight tracker. I couldn’t get a status on the airtran site. D’s departure is delayed by 20 minutes. She got to the airport early expecting crowds and bag check and security moved quickly, so she’s already had a long wait. </p>
<p>Tessa and Aloha: I’m sorry that your kids won’t be home for Thanksgiving. </p>
<p>I make chestnut stuffing. I boil and peel the chesnuts and add them to the stuffing along with sauteed celery and onions. It’s a pain in the neck to peel the chestnuts, but everyone loves it.</p>
<p>Good luck to all the kids still travelling! </p>
<p>Amanda, LOLing at your Elf adventure. </p>
<p>I finally did my T’day shopping. It took forever because I forgot my list so had to walk every aisle to jog my memory and then I ran into a friend I hadn’t seen in ages and wasted another hour. Then when I got home, naturally, boychild was nowhere to be found. What’s the point of him coming home if I am still left schlepping in the bags!?! ;)</p>
<p>Hi all. I have so enjoyed reading about everyone’s returning students; I can feel the excitement! I was scheduled to pick up D in a couple of hours, but flights into Chicago are delayed (at least not cancelled) so we will definitely be having a very late dinner. One of her very close frieinds who is also in town is supposed to join us - we’ll see how long he can wait. I’m planning on making a quick and easy cake as soon as I get home from work (soon) to accompany our sushi take out, so hopefully if we’re too delayed he can at least join us for dessert. I just saw D during Fall break, but I am still so excited about having her home for a few days! She’ll be out and about a lot - she hasn’t seen most of her friends since August and I know she wants to get together with them and that’s fine, since I’ve seen her twice since then. Must learn to share!</p>
<p>EAO thanks for the info on the stuffing. This sounds so much better than what I have made in the past. I know it will be a big hit with my H and hopefully D1. Having another kiddo whose parents now live on the east coast for dinner too. He seems to enjoy a home cooked meal and loves anything with meat:)</p>
<p>super exhausted after 8 1/2 hours of driving to retrieve D from college. But so happy to have her under our roof again…oh wait…she was home for 20 minutes and out the door to see her BFF for the first time since August. (as expected!)</p>
<p>TessaR and Aloha - I’m sorry you won’t have your kids home for T-giving and hope they’ve found some place nice to spend the holiday.</p>
<p>DD had originally thought she would be ok skipping her classes today and I almost made her reservations for MOnday afternoon. She ultimately decided not to risk it and it was a good thing - they had an exam and her prof was adamant about everyone being there. There’s just no good way to guess this stuff. One of her best friends could have left on Friday night; all of her classes were either cancelled or the professors told them LAST WEEK that the could miss if they wanted to. Problem would have jacked the price of her flights up to $1000 including change fees so she stayed put.</p>
<p>All of the different stuffing recipes sounds so good; mine is pretty basic. I do make a broccolo casserole that my family always made; it makes me feel connected to my loved ones back home… steam frozen brocolli spears, drain and then mix with cream of mushroom of soup and sauteed chopped onions. Turn that all into a buttered Pyrex pan and top with Ritz cracker crumbs and then drizzle melted butter over that. Cover with foil and bake for an hour… you would not believe how good this is!</p>
<p>Looking forward to using the frying pan in person this week!</p>
<p>S is traveling tomorrow, I get to pick him up at LGA which is 90 mins one way on a good day. I heard this am that had it been snow we would have gotten a ton, that wouldn’t have been good.</p>
<p>I am not cooking the actual Turkey, we are going to nephew’s who is a chef. I have a lot of food and have made 3 trips to the grocery store to be not cooking. We need S’s fav’s in the house of course.</p>
<p>Thanks EAO1227, momjr and proudmom, it is our first Thanksgiving without our D1. Luckily she’s staying with a dorm mates family on the east coast. TessaR, that’s great that you are hosting another kiddo. I actually wish I could host one here!</p>
<p>^Wow! Glad she’s on her way. 5 am is scary early to get up. All too easy to slap the snooze button and miss that flight!</p>
<p>I hear icy rain on the skylight last night. Started me thinking about rain and snow delays. Hope everyone’s kiddo gets on their plane and safely home. Only to skip out 5 minutes later to see their friends :)</p>
<p>^Wow! Glad she’s on her way. 5 am is scary early to get up. All too easy to slap the snooze button and miss that flight!</p>
<p>I heard icy rain on the skylight last night. Started me thinking about rain and snow delays. Hope everyone’s kiddo gets on their plane and safely home. Only to skip out 5 minutes later to see their friends :)</p>
<p>I want to echo momjr in wishing those travelling today a safe journey home. The weather here is awful-I hope it doesn’t cause delays or worse.</p>
<p>My son got in around 6 last night and was supposed to reunite with some friends he hasn’t seen since the summer but it fell through. We had him all to ourselves-although we weren’t home part of the night due to soccer (what else?).</p>
<p>I love that he is home and when I got up this morning I could go into his room and give him a hug and a kiss-isn’t that the best?</p>