This Is How We Do It. Part 1.

Let me explain a few things in regards to these pictures. And here's why:


First of all, I want you to know we all lived.
Through the fat.
Through the grease.
Through the belly wrestling match that mom and I nearly got into over my adding butter to already 8,000 calorie gravy.
Through it all - we lived. To tell about it.


And secondly...oh wait, I guess that was all I wanted y'all to know.

So here is the first ingredient in a Country Fried Thanksgiving Dinner of Champions dinner.

A cast iron skillet. I warned you all about this once before, remember???

That's CAST IRON PEOPLES! Get it right.

Or as Brandon says, "Fry it right or go home."

It makes no sense, but it's funny when you're high on Crisco.

And here's a key ingredient in the fight against all things healthy...FLOUR.

Add it and add lots of it.

That's Meridith.

I think she just added some to her plate and then dipped her bread in it.

We like it that much.

And here is the uber-plate, the show-stopper, the things that brought us all together....drumroll please....CHICKEN FRIED STEAK!

This plate really doesn't do it justice.

Mainly because there were only a few on this plate

as opposed the mountain that we ended up serving.

And also because there were paper towels under it, and since my family is classy we removed the paper towels before we served them.

I needed y'all to know that.

Here is the table once it was all set. Sure, our plates don't match. And we had to add one of those itty bitty card tables at the end. But there was a big group of us and we weren't really there for matching plates.

We were there for the foo.....I mean, fellowship.

All told there was: Country Corn Casserole,

Homemade Mashed Potatoes,

Broccoli Cheese Casserole,

Cornbread Dressing,

Baked Beans,

Spinach Salad,

Chicken Fried Steak w/Gravy,

Chicken Tenders

and Sour Cream Muffins.

Then for dessert?

Gigi's Cupcakes before...

And Gigi's cupcakes after.

And a bunch of other stuff, but mainly I remember the cupcakes and the frosting.

And the frosting. And all the frosting.

But I also remember how Remi spent Thanksgiving dinner watching "KaPana" (aka Kung Fu Panda) in the living room crying because she was so tired she could barely hold her head up.



How my mom spent 20 minutes at the Thanksgiving table telling a story about turtle meat.


How my dad told four jokes too many about how the meal was going to make his heart stop right then and there, which is not funny because it actually could have.


How my cousin Tyler and his girlfriend, Riki, announced their engagement from only 5 hours before.


And how Meridith and I smiled in delight at how all our hard work paid off.


And the six hours we all spent in the bathroom afterwards meant nothing to us.


It's a Thanksgiving miracle!