20 lbs of smashed potato's coming right up!

Thanksgiving is tomorrow...I'm so excited!! While I was living in California, this is one of the holiday's I missed spending with my family the most. And NOT necessarily just because of the smorgasbord of food--which always includes some strange forms of jello salad, and super smushy green beans; although those are always a highlight. (pictures to come soon!)

For as long as I can remember, every Thanksgiving we have made the hour-long trek down south to Colorado Springs where my grandparents Will and Bess Perkins live. Anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting either Will OR Bess knows how completely awesome and amazing they are. When you compile on the rest of the Perkins/Sheets/Tate/Walker clan...you get one SPECTACULAR event. We're never quite sure of the number of people that are going to be there for the meal...my grandpa has a tendency to invite a handful of people he sees while out and about on the town who may not have a place to celebrate the holiday. Which I LOVE!!

I'm in charge of making the mashed potato's for the big day; which is challenging in a few ways. One, they're a Thanksgiving staple, which really puts the pressure on me to do a top notch smashing of the potato's. Two, since there's never an exact head-count, I have no idea how many potato's to actually make. Three, I only have a small hand-mixer. (Thankfully this last challenge has been rectified by KAPSIE letting me borrow her precious Bosch Mixer--which she uses EVERY day!) And finally, four, I'm an "alternative baker/cook," which basically means I can't follow a recipe to save my life. I'll let you know how it turns out!!

"Call it a clan, call it

a network,

call it a tribe, call it a

family.

Whatever you call it,

whoever you are,

you need one."

Jane Howard