Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

"Keep your fork, Duke, there's pie."

By now you have probably realized that I am horrible about taking pictures while I am attempting something from Pinterest.  Well, there are two reasons for that.  Firstly, usually the link I include has several pictures of the steps, so why repeat what I've already included.  Secondly, I am not coordinated enough to stop what I'm doing, mid-project to take a picture.  And thirdly, I'm not a great photographer.  I don't have the patience to set up something for the best picture.  So accept the fact that I will at the very least take an end photo picture and be happy with that.

So tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  I have designated myself to be the baker of desserts for this holiday.  I feel strongly that they should be homemade and not bought in the frozen food section of Costco.  That's the way I was raised and I am not going to apologize for that.  Last year, I made an amazing Candy and Caramel Apple Pie.  It's a little bit cheesecake, a little bit apple pie, and a whole LOT of delicious!!!!!  The recipe is from Doughmesstic and can be found here: Candy & Caramel Apple Pie

My AWESOME cousin-in-law actually requested it for a repeat this year, and so I did.  (Now of course you need to disregard what I said above about an end photo, because I thought I took one and posted it last year, so of course I didn't pull out the camera earlier, and now it is all packed away for the trip tomorrow.  So just deal with it.  Besides, it doesn't look as delicious as the one from the website.)

But why stop with one pie?  Desserts are the fun part of Thanksgiving dinner.  So that was pie number one.  Then I decided to try a pecan pie.  I've never been a huge fan of pecan pie.  We don't eat it as much up north as they seem to down here in the south.  And it's just WAY too sweet for my taste.  But I thought I would give it a go.  And I found this recipe for a delicious sounding chocolate bourbon pecan pie!  C'mon, if it's got chocolate in it, I am game.  And of course it's from the wonderful Pioneer Woman.  Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

Then of course I tried to get all fancy with the pie crust after pinning the following link from Buzzfeed. Fancy Pie Crusts

(I probably could have made it a bit bigger as you can see in the top photo that it kind of fell inside the bottom crust at one spot.  But nevermind because it was delicious!)

Now I hear you all saying, "But wait!  Where is the pumpkin pie!"  Chillax people!  I'm getting to that part.  So we have two pies.  And honestly, the best part of pumpkin pie is the filling.  So why not just make a Pumpkin Trifle found by my baking addiction.Honestly, the best part about these is going to be the Biscoff cookie crumbles for the crust.  Yum!

Honestly, the best part about these is going to be the Biscoff cookie crumbles for the crust.  Yum!

(From my board "Eat Dessert First")

Thanksgiving Bingo (and other fun activities)

So once in every year we throng

Upon a day apart,

To praise the Lord with feast and song

In thankfulness of heart.

~Arthur Guiterman, The First Thanksgiving

The best part about having to work the night before Thanksgiving?  Not having to host it, and no one expects me to do much.  All right, in all honesty, we're not hosting it because we are the ones who moved away and will be returning home to celebrate with the rest of the family.

So not having to think about planning out Thanksgiving, I can focus more on the fun stuff.  Well, I did offer to bring desserts because desserts are fun and everybody likes them.  But more than that, I can focus on the FUN stuff.  There are going to be 7 little cousins there, varying in age from 3 to 12. 

Why didn't I do these things when my kids were little?  Well, that is exactly the reason.  My kids were little.  When you're having to worry about the holiday and entertaining young children, you don't have the time, or let's face it, the energy to do all the extra fun stuff!  So thanks to Pinterest, we are going to have a blast this Thanksgiving. 

Firstly, for my cousin-in-law (is that even a relative?  It should be because she is AWESOME!), we are going to keep this in mind.  I found this fun Thanksgiving Bingo from Bit Rebels which looks like it will be a blast.  I already know I will be able to check of the existance of a "kids table," someone will be thankful for their family, and there will DEFINITELY be someone complaining they don't like that type of food (Spoiler alert:  It will be one of my kids.)

Next I put together a trivia quiz for the grown-ups and older kids.  I mixed and matched questions from different sites to make my own, but I looked at Prettie Parties, Turnstyle Vogue, and Funsational.  They all had fun little trivia quizzes, but I wanted to make one of my own.

And I can't forget the little ones.  Crazy Little Projects has a cute Thanksgiving Bingo that I think they are going to love!

Found on my board "Give thanks for unknown blessings."