Thanksgiving Part II: Turducken

After the delicious food and wonderful company from Thanksgiving Part I, we somehow had to transport our very full bodies, while making more room in our bellies for Thanksgiving Part II.

It was held at my Mommy's beautiful home.  McKay and I set the tables...

...while Ziah slaved away in the kitchen for hours, no, days! 
 He made homemade cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing and...the surprise/mystery dish!

My mom was always in his wake, cleaning up after his culinary tornado, while still keeping a smile on her face!  What a gal!

If you still haven't figured out the surprise/mystery dish from Thanksgiving Part I, I'll help you out - the title of this post should give you a clue, because that's what it's called.  

Instead of a regular old turkey for Thanksgiving, Ziah made a turduckin!  But what is a turducken, you may ask?

It is as a de-boned chicken stuffed into a de-boned duck, which itself is stuffed into a de-boned turkey, that is then filled with stuffing and sewn up.  The word turducken is a portmanteau of turkey, duck, and chicken.  
I could never remember this name or the order of the birds, so I just called it roast beast.

Pretty advantageous for the cooking of a first Thanksgiving dinner, huh? 

 All I did was make some bread and pick up drinks.

Ziah woke up throughout the night to check on his creation.  What a stud, right?  Thanksgiving would not have happened without him!  

As you can see, Ziah is pretty serious about his cooking.  

While waiting for the Turducken to cook and our appetites to grow, we talked to McKay's Dad, who is on a deployment at the moment.

Skype is the best! 

At last, the turducken was cooked...

...to perfection...

...much to Ziah's joy and relief!

The only question that remained then is who would cut the beast?

Everyone agreed that Ziah should do it after all his hard work.  

Look at the joy and satisfaction on that face!

He could cut right through the middle of the beasts since they were all de-boned!

We were all shocked and amaz-ed!

And hungry by this time!

Everyone was thankful for the truducken and probably will never be able to eat regular turkey again and be satisfied.  Yes, it was that good!  All the juices from the three meats mixed, making it so tender and flavorful!  I am now a true believer in Turducken!

Before we started back home we had to see Raleigh's new little guy, Graeme!  

He was such a chunk of cuteness!  And his hair was to die for!

Luckily we filled our love tanks to the brim, otherwise this stop and go traffic all the way from Las Vegas to Los Angeles would have pushed us to insanity! 

Traffic should not exist in the middle of the desert!  

 It did, however, give us a moment to reflect on the many blessings we are grateful for during this season of thanks; that we have a place to live, a car to drive, food in our bellies, jobs and schooling behind us (or soon to be behind us), and the most wonderful and dear friends and family in the world.  It renewed our gratitude to our Heavenly Father who loved us so much to send a Savior, Jesus the Christ, to fulfill His plan of happiness and to help us return back to Him.  

Our hearts are indeed full!