I woke up with wicked cramps and a headache on Thanksgiving and felt a wave of dread. It was just too cruel to feel so awful on a day I really wanted to have fun, so I mentally rallied as best I could, took some Excedrin and then stopped at McDonald's for a medicinal Coke (Landon said he needed "medicinal fries" and Whitney said she needed a "medicinal sundae" Ha.)
I had just started this book the night before and was telling Randy about it in the car and just had to read him part of it, but then we were all enjoying it so much I read to us the whole way out to freakin Eagle Mountain...good times. Oh how I love a book that makes me laugh out loud!
This was our first ever Thanksgiving with just our family! Usually we gather with my mom's side of the family for a feast at her sister's house, but this year my aunt had back surgery and couldn't host so we were left to fend for ourselves...and we did!
Lori tried chopping onions with a matchstick in her mouth to help stop the eye irritation involved, it worked.
We received the family cookbooks my cousin's wife organized in the summer, we all contributed recipes and she took care of everything else (all my best recipes came from Michelle and Amie!).
Andrew was home!
The first item of business was to take a family photo for my parents' Christmas card. As always, we set up the tripod and put the camera on self-timer, took 4 shots and hoped for the best. My dad and Andrew both have a very small window of patience for this experience so it's a good thing we got one with everyone's eyes open! (My dad had to lift Andrew's chin so he'd look up.)
The kids' table was in the kitchen and the adults' table was in the dining room, I think everyone was happy with this set up.
My dad helped Landon cut his turkey since he's having a hard time maneuvering with his cast on.
Amy took pictures with her awesome camera and I took over Robyn's since mine is at death's door and is practically useless. (Sob, sniff, sniff, sigh.)
Our feast at the adults' table!
Someone started reminiscing about the little pilgrim figurines we used to have when we were kids and my mom pulled them out of the hutch! These bring back memories of Thanksgivings gone by.
Whitney has love affair going on with my parents' cat.
The rest of the day wasn't documented very well (I'm lost without my camera and even though Robyn was fine to share with me it just wasn't on my radar the way it normally would be). The kids played all day so we hardly saw them. We perused the store ads (I am so NOT a Black Friday shopper), watched Elf on TV while the guys watched The Godfather, and just hung out.
I made this fabulous (if I do say so myself) vanilla cream pie with a chocolate bottom. I used a different recipe for the custard (it calls for cornstarch instead of flour) and it held it's shape better.
I ended up buying this huge pecan pie at Costco because it cost a dollar less than the bag of pecans I was going to buy!
My mom finished this year's jammie pants for the grandkids so Amy took this photo. It's a little sad that the kids are getting so huge!
Overall it was a happy, relaxing, day filled with good food and family the way Thanksgiving should be.
**How was your Thanksgiving?
Have you taken a family picture recently?
Did you shop on Black Friday?**
Comment Window Tidbit:It has been a nice few days off work, though it's messing with my head...I'm very prone to time warp issues.
