Heart Healthy Thanksgiving

This year Mary, Sarah and I decided to plan and prepare the whole Thanksgiving Day menu along with help from Dave and Peter. We thought we'd try to find recipes of the standard items converted to be heart healthy, inspired by Mom's surgery, but better for us all in the long run too. All seemed to work out well except the green bean casserole, definitely not as good as the original. The smoked turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, wild rice hazelnut stuffing, cranberry stuffed acorn squash, cranberry chutney, apple pie all were well received.

The weather was beautiful until the Sunday drive home. Light jackets were all that was required on the drive down. Dave and Sarah and family arrived in Arlington shortly before I did late Wednesday (Nov 23rd) afternoon. Collin and Jackson perked up from their naps in the car when they saw Sam and Rowdy bound into the kitchen.

The next hour or so was spent unpacking cars with boxes and boxes of food along with getting the sleeping arrangements made.

Pete, Mary and Matt arrived shortly after supper and we started the whole process again. Matt seems a half foot taller yet again.

The next morning Pat, Aislynn and Andrew arrived fairly early and the house was pretty hectic getting all the menu items prepared.

Marguerite watched the grandkids while the rest of us prepared the meal.

I was so glad to have help from Mary and Sarah as they are much more experienced at preparing large meals. I'm good at cooking for one or two, but more than that I accept all help that is offered.

After all the food was eaten and dishes done, we didn't settle down for the usual football thing, but Peter took the lead in a brisk and long walk around town. In fact he managed to herd us outside at least 3 or more times a day. The dogs loved it and I would have except I didn't bring along the right walking shoes.


Collin followed his cousin around closely and Aislynn seemed to enjoy the role of 'teacher'. He was so sad to see her leave that evening after supper.


Friday morning Mary and Sarah got up early to hunt down all the best Black Friday shopping deals in Watertown. They were out of the house before 5:30 am.


Collin having a chuckle on the swings and Jackson on the slide.

Later on, after the boys got up and dressed, David and I took them down to the city park along with the dogs to burn off some energy and enjoy the beautiful weather. Jackson is growing so fast and trying to hard to keep up with his big brother Collin. He is talking so much but nothing anyone can understand yet. It is so cute.



Jackson is telling a long story to his Dad who dutifully pretends to understand it all!

Friday afternoon, when Sarah returned, Dave headed up to the bowling alley for a bit of relaxation after taking care of the boys by himself most of the day. Pete and Matt joined him later for a game or two.

Peter, Dodey & Dave at the bowling alley.

Later Mary and I visited the flower shop and the gift shop on our way up to watch the men bowling. Peter talked us all into visiting the new community fitness center at the high school after supper. It is really nice and a great asset for the town.

Saturday was spent with Xmas decorations for the house. We decorated the outside, inside and left some for Mom to finish on her own. But I left many many unopened boxes up in the attic. Later in the afternoon, Peter, Mary, Matt and I all went to the bowling alley for the holiday special of 3 games, a pitcher of root beer and large pizza for $20. It was a lot of fun, although Matt wasn't too happy to get a score lower than his Mom! After suppler we watched a dvd of a movie that was shot in North Dakota with Kris Kristofferson and Peter Fonda. It was kind of corny about some old cankerous sheep farmers, but seemed to be just right for the holiday.

All in all, a typical Manley Thanksgiving, although maybe a little nostalgic as we all knew it most likely would be the last one in that house in Arlington. Mom and Dad are getting closer and closer to accepting the idea of moving - encouraging all the kids to take things from the house and almost pleading with us to stop giving them "stuff".