Preparing my first turkey

Still frozen. That was the state of our turkey when I pulled it out of the fridge after thawing it for three days. After I took it out of the packaging, I honestly felt bad for the little bugger. Especially after I was through with him, poor thing was mutilated.

Brad and I celebrated our first Christmas together on the 21st before leaving to go home to Pennsylvania for the holidays. We went all out with a turkey, mashed potatoes, and Pillsbury rolls (my favorite). Preparing the turkey was a very new experience for me though. One that I'm glad I won't have to go through again for at least another year.

I went for the giblets first. (These are disgusting, by the way.) But like I said, the turkey was still partly frozen so what I really did was pull a bunch of little pieces of paper out because the bag was not budging. That's when I face-timed my mom. (Thank goodness for technology).

After explaining my predicament, my mom suggested running the turkey under some warm water to help thaw the turkey some more. After some warm water and some nudging and pulling and ripping on my part, I finally removed the giblets! I was really doing it!

Next was the plastic hook connecting the legs. (my mom said she usually takes hers out, so I followed her lead). I pulled and pulled and that thing didn't move an inch. After pulling with all of my might, I got a pleasant surprise, turkey juice sprayed all over my face and hair (yuck). But, it was out! I was making progress.

Next was the neck. This was by far one of the grossest things I've held in my hand. I took a bunch of pictures on my phone during the whole process, but it ended up breaking that night and none of my turkey pictures were saved :(  Use your imagination and picture me smiling and holding the turkey neck in my hand. 

By this point, I was feeling pretty good. I walked over to the sink and rinsed the turkey with cold water inside and out, patted it dry, and all that was left was the stuffing. Piece of cake. Shoving the stuffing in to the turkey after I was done making it was even kind of fun, in a weird sort of way.

Then I was all set. I put the turkey on the roaster, covered it with some foil, shoved it in the oven, and crossed my fingers.

To reward myself, I sat down and ate 4 cake mix cookies with rainbow icing.

3 1/2 hours later, Brad got home from work and helped me with the potatoes and rolls. By that time, the moment of truth had arrived!

I sat at the table and watched as Brad started carving the turkey. I was hoping and praying it wouldn't turn out like this. (the first 30 seconds will suffice, but if you're a true American, you'll watch the whole thing.)

But that's exactly what happened.

Just kidding.

It actually turned out great and I was thrilled! Here's a picture from Brad's phone.

Next year, that thing is thawing for 4+ days.

Merry Christmas!!