Thanksgiving!

Yep, I know.  Thanksgiving was like three weeks ago.  So long ago, in fact, all traces of Thanksgiving have been removed and replaced by...Christmas!!  But I had such a nice Thanksgiving that I still want to remember it.  We hosted my sister's family and my mom for the big meal.  There were only eleven individuals in the house so it was a lot smaller group than have gathered for family holidays in the past.  The number was really nice though, our new smaller house handled that amount of people really well.  My sister and her husband ran a Thanksgiving Day 5K that morning so Eric made the turkey and I got everything else together.  It all came together really nice and there were no bad surprises, like the turkey taking an extra couple of hours or the gravy turning lumpy.  Our menu was pretty traditional: turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green been casserole, green salad, cranberry sauce, bread, rolls and pumpkin pie.  It was so good!!!

It turns out that I have enough white or crystal serving dishes that I was able to keep the table scape pretty simple.  I made placemats and place cards the week before and mom brought a cornucopia for a little color. 

We did have a kid's table only because the big table was so crowded with food we couldn't have fit four more people at it!  My sister and I have gotten wise to the eating habits of our kids over the years and only gave them about a tablespoon of each food item.  There was still a fair amount of leftover food on the kid's plates. 

 

We spent the afternoon cleaning up the dishes and relaxing.  My aunt had some family over at her house too so some of us headed over there early in the evening.  I got to see some cousins and aunts and uncles from my mom's side.  Friday morning my sister and her family too off for home so Grace and I met my mom for a little Black Friday shopping.  I got everything I set out to get, and at prices I can live with. 

 

Sunday we celebrated with Eric's family at his cousin's house.  Another big meal and an afternoon of visiting with cousins and grandparents.  We also celebrated his niece's birthday since she was home from college.  I only had to make the cake, which was done on Saturday, so that was a pretty stress-free meal for me.  The whole weekend was so relaxing and nice.  I love spending time with my family and when they have to drive several hours to see us, it is that much more special.