Christmas Dinner

We decided to start a new tradition this year of staying home on Christmas Day. Previously, we always did the rounds on Christmas and by the end of the 25th, we were so exhausted and missed our couch.

This year we wanted to stay home and relax. Isaiah helped with that because it was easier to stay home for his nap times.

Josh's employer gives employees a turkey every Thanksgiving. We hadn't used it, so we decided to have it for Christmas dinner.

I always help my grandma make Thanksgiving dinner, so I've been around a raw turkey before, but she's an old pro and usually takes the lead on that. This was my first time making it on my own, and I quickly realized that I had no idea what to do.

I'm always a sucker for a recipe that says "easy" or "three ingredients" so I was immediately drawn to this recipe for a brown bag turkey.

Brown Bag Turkey
Ingredients:
1 (12 -16 lb) whole turkey
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 paper bag (like a paper grocery bag)
I added celery, carrot, onion, and parsley in the cavity. I didn't feel right leaving it empty.
Instructions:

1. If you purchase a frozen turkey, follow the directions on the label regarding defrosting time.
2. Take your paper bag and cut it so that you can open it to tent over the turkey.
3. Generously butter complete surface of one side of the paper bag. Coat every inch of the side that will be closest to the turkey.
4. Place turkey in roasting/baking pan and tent the paper bag over the turkey, butter-side down.
5. Place turkey in cold oven (Do Not Preheat)
6. Turn heat to 500 and roast for 1 hr.
7. Turn down to 400 degrees and roast for 1 hr.
8. Turn down to 300 degrees and roast for another 1 hr.
9. Total cooking time: 3 hrs. Remove turkey from oven.
10. Remove paper bag and let turkey rest for at least 20 minutes before carving.

I kid you not, this was the best turkey I've ever had. Ever. I don't even like turkey, but this was delicious. My husband even agreed and he likes turkey less than I do (don't ask why we wanted to have it in the first place).

I highly, highly recommend this method. Just make sure you have tons of butter on the bag so it doesn't catch fire. And it never hurts to have an extinguisher on hand just in case. I was feeling pretty thankful that we had to get one for Isaiah's adoption home study.