Post Thanksgiving wrap up

We have family traditions on Thanksgiving. One is that my husband always runs our local Turkey Trot at the crack of dawn. Another is that he comes home and watches the Macy's Day Thanksgiving parade. A third is that Kelly cooks our turkey, and stuffing, and a million other things, and watches the Westminster Dog Show in between dishes. The last tradition is we make milk gravy. All of those traditions happened yesterday. Check. Check. Check, check, and check.

I got up early and made pumpkin pies. This year I did not make the crust, but relied on Pillsbury and the dough boy did not disappoint. Kelly arrived with the turkey she gets free from work each year and she began preparing it as the pies cooked. After that we just got into a routine. I had chopped the celery, snapped the green beans, and decorated the two tables the night before, and so we peeled potatoes and made the stuffing, and had it all ready and waiting to be cooked. We had so much done ahead of time that we felt comfortable drinking sangria, and we might have gotten a little cocky.

The turkey ended up with an internal temperature of over 200 degrees one hour before the assigned removal from the oven. The temperature in my kitchen was just as hot as we ran around trying to finish up everything earlier than planned which actually ended up later than we planned by the time we were done warming up dishes that had finished earlier. Kelly and I were dripped in sweat, but we kept our sunny dispositions despite people coming into the kitchen asking if they could help or questioning the time of eating.

It didn't matter. The meal was delicious. The turkey was fine. The company was entertaining and we all agreed it was a successful night. My family headed out before the game. They know me well. Our friends hung around until after the first quarter of the game, and I was left alone to relax and enjoy a decent game for a change.

Steelers: No Andrew Luck. An aging defense. Who understands that better than Steelers fans? Happy Thanksgiving to us.

• Again with the damn penalties, and this week we couldn't just have one here and there. No, we had to have double penalties on top of double penalties. Seriously? If I were the player whose run or catch was nixed due to one of my teammates making a stupid penalty I would be in his face.
• Antonio Brown with the excessive celebration penalty again. Yet, then in the next breath the Colts' Donte Moncrief scored and danced in the end zone, but no call. This has got to be a celebrate/no celebrate situation, refs. Otherwise, it is too subjective and geared toward certain players, and that gives you guys a bad rep. Who the heck even made the decision on this stupid rule anyhow? 
• It was great that Tony Dungy received his HOF ring at halftime seeing as he played and coached for the Steelers and coached for the Colts. Probably doesn't work out that well for most inductees.
• I got a little tired of seeing Colts punter Pat McAfee on the Thanksgiving segments of the game, but that just might be because he did that little strut after his fake punt, and after that all I could see was a smugness instead of humor. 
• After the game, when the triple three were being interviewed by NBC sideline reporter Michele Tafoya she had them take a bite out of some turkey legs. Neither of the three wanted to do so, but they played along, and when Tafoya asked Antonio how it was he responded with "Boomin'" Oh, Michele, you walked into that one. All AB fans chuckled.

Other:

• So much for being thankful on this holiday when it comes to football. Dallas' Dez Bryant and Washington's Josh Norman got into a scuffle on the field in the third quarter, and it just kept coming throughout the rest of the game, not ending even when the game ended. Instead the two traded barbs after the game on twitter and in post game locker room interviews. Someone should have reminded them what day it was.
• There is something so annoying about Cowboy's owner Jerry Jones. His pompous attitude? His "please pick me up and carry me on your shoulders like I deserve" mentality?  Ugh. And it is always worse when his team wins. Someone needs to teach the man humility.
• The Detroit/Minnesota game led off the holiday football, and it didn't disappoint with the Lions kicking the winning field goal as time ran out.