Thanksgiving

Brenna is home, Dad is visiting... there is much to be thankful for!

My girl, my twin!

Much to be Thankful for!

Had a great Thanksgiving.  Art and Karen drove down to celebrate with us.  It was really a very quiet day, which is actually the best kind.  I got a 5 mile run in, then walked the dogs for 3 miles, so I was feeling pretty smug when it came time for dinner.

We had 3 new recipes to try out - 2 were successes.  Brenna made Glazed Carrots with candied pecans (success), I did a two tone potatoes (sweet and regular) - it was okay, but not a keeper and then the best…I made a caramelized onion and corn bread dressing… SOOOOO good!  Probably my favorite part of the whole dinner!  Even Zack ate it and liked it!!  Definitely a new tradition!  We ate like Kings and then watched The Hobbit and it was good!

Grandma prepping for Thanksgiving

Making the carrots

Checking on Tom

What a weirdo

The final touches

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King of the Drum sticks

So damn cute!

Then Friday we went downtown to see a huge Ice Sculpture display, a holiday festival and fireworks.  It was freezing cold, but we had a nice time, minus the 60 MINUTES we spent trying to get out of the parking structure when it was all over!!

All in all, it was a very nice Thanksgiving break.  We have so much to be thankful for and it's easy to loose track of all that in the craziness that our lives become.  Sometimes it's nice to stop and be reminded of that.

Art and Karen leave tomorrow.  So, does Brenna, but she'll be back in 2 weeks for winter break!!! Tomorrow I will try and catch up on everything I didn't get accomplished while we were playing. Frankly, I'm ready to get back to work so that I can relax!

Thanksgiving and then some

    I've finally emerged from my Thanksgiving day, Apple Pie food coma and can recap the wonderful birthday/Thanksgiving holiday. In a nutshell it was great.  For the first time ever I made 2 new recipes. Our family has NEVER been very adventurous when it comes to Thanksgiving day... traditional is what we are.  Turkey, mashed potatoes (I do make real - this one day), gravy (from a jar, but enhanced),  stuffing (of the StoveTop box variety), steamed green beans, rolls and that's it.  Nothing fancy, nothing adventurous - but yummy nonetheless.  But this year I jumped right out of my comfort zone and made 2 new recipes... Tortilla chip chorizo stuffing, for which I actually MADE my own bread crumbs and Whiskey-glazed sweet potatoes with apples.  Both were DELISH!  Definite keepers with a few tweaks.  The stuffing was really good, but not the right flavor profile for Thanksgiving, but would be really good with a pork loin or something along those lines.
     Everyone pitched in, Art and Karen did potatoes, Brenna did green beans and table setting, so it wasn't even stressful.  Then a rousing game of Pictionary, in which the boys actually won and the evening was complete.
 

     As if it weren't enough, it was also my birthday.  I woke up to a wonderful display waiting for me.  Brenna made me a fabulous birthday placemat.  Sometimes she's so much like me, it's frightening.  Everyone else has a birthday placemat except me, but now I DO TOO!  I'm taking it to be laminated immediately.  Lovely homemade cards, thoughtful gifts (bubble bath, iPhone armband, Lord of the Rings Collector's DVD set) and beautiful flowers.  A fabulous dinner and birthday pie!  I am so blessed by my wonderful family, my friends, my home and all we have.  I'm thankful that my children are growing into amazing adults who I enjoy being around, that I have a husband who continually tells me how much he loves me, that in the grand scheme of things we want for nothing and that I have an soaking tub and walk in closet! So much to be thankful for.

The soundtrack of Thanksgiving Break

...is coughing, hacking, nose-blowing and snuffling!  :o(  Last year, this year... it's developing into a pattern! Poor Brenna :o(

All is mostly right with the world.

All my chicks under one roof.  Poor Brenna has been sick for a week, medicating her way through all her classes and homework.  She's had what we think is the flu, low grade fever, aches, chills and everything else that goes along with it. She's been high on Alka Seltzer Cold and Afrin and Sucrets for so long that she didn't feel up to driving.  I didn't feel like it was a safe option for her either.  5 hours is a  long time to drive when you are feeling normal, let alone when you are sick.  So, I hopped in the car drove down and picked my baby girl up and brought her home.  It was a long day in the car, only hit traffic once.  The downside is I'll have to drive her back next weekend.  But, I think we'll go down late Sat to miss traffic and then have a sleepover at her house and I'll come home EARLY Sunday morning.    For now we're all together (listening to Brenna cough), Art and Karen arrive on Tuesday.   Yeah for Thanksgiving Break.  I can relax and enjoy, minus the cooking and cleaning and planning etc...

Thanksgiving Recap

Once again a day late and a dollar short.  The day after Thanksgiving I came down with some sort of bizarro cold that sucked all the energy out of me.  On the other hand, maybe it was a food coma! :o)  We had a great Thanksgiving, very quiet which is just the way we like it.  Our girl came home from Radford and slid back pretty seamlessly into the house routine.  Art and Karen came down for the holiday and we all kept it pretty low key.

Even the pups enjoyed dinner

I am so thankful for so many things.  I am thankful for children who seem to be growing up into wonderful, kind, thoughtful and fun young adults despite all the incredible parenting errors that were made along the way.  It's a good thing children are so resilient!  I'm thankful for a husband who puts up with me.  I'm thankful that I have wonderful In-laws, that we all get along and enjoy each other's company.  I am so appreciative of all that we have, because we have so much.

I am thankful for a Thanksgiving that only requires me to put a nice shirt on for the pictures and allows me to keep my jammie pants on all day.

Food was good, dishes were done quickly and we all enjoyed each other and the holiday together.  Couldn't have asked for much more.

Oh the pressure...

Tom's gone in the oven... now it's all over but the waiting... Cook Tom! Cook!