Thanksgiving

I know it is a day late, but I wanted to write a little about our Thanksgiving. We enjoyed having our first Thanksgiving in our new home! Normally we get together at my parents' house, with a bunch of my dad's family, but this year we decided to eat dinner at home and then go over there later for dessert. I'm happy to say that my first Thanksgiving dinner, made all by myself, turned out great! Fortunately I was able to make a lot of the food the day before, and so the only things I had to cook on Thanksgiving Day were the turkey and sweet potato casserole. Since it was just the three of us, I didn't make as many side dishes as people usually have on Thanksgiving, but just made our very favorites, to save time and cut down on leftovers. :) Here's what I served:

Roasted Turkey
Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows
Honey Rolls
Cranberry Sauce
Homemade Gravy
Apple Cider

and . . . Pumpkin Pie for dessert, of course! :)

I also made another yummy pumpkin dessert to bring over to my parents', so we have a little of that leftover, as well. I'll try to post some of these recipes later; I don't know if anyone would be interested, but the mashed potatoes and honey rolls in particular, are well worth adding to one's recipe collection! :)

Sam took a 3 hour nap yesterday, from 11-2, so we actually ended up eating dinner without him, around 1:30. It was kind of nice to be able to take our time and not have to feed him at the same time! But we did miss having him at the table with us, too. When he woke up, he was grumpy, and all he wanted to eat was yogurt! So he never did have his turkey dinner, but that's OK. All the more for Jim and me!

My parents had a much smaller group than usual this year, only about 10 people, and most of them left just as we arrived, so we didn't get to spend much time with them. After a little while, we headed on over to visit some friends, where we traditionally get together every Thanksgiving night for more desserts, fellowship, and games. Sam and Beka played around on their own pretty well, and the rest of us ended up playing a game called "Apples to Apples." We headed home around 9 pm, and finally got to bed around 11. So it was a LONG day, and we were pretty tired this morning, but hopefully tonight we'll get to bed earlier.

Today we mostly hung around home all day. In past years, we've hit some of the early sales at Walmart or Sears, but this year we really didn't need anything, and decided not to join the crazy shopping crowds. I got a little cleaning done. The biggest project I tackled was cleaning up and vacuuming the back entryway. It was a MESS! It looks a lot more spacious and organized, now. It's amazing how junk piles up around here, way too fast. Jim worked on doing some more mudding on the sheetrock in the office. We'd like to get that room finished up before too long--it will need sanding, paint, and hardwood floor--and then we can move his desk and the computer and all office type stuff in there. Sam and I took a nap this afternoon; he's still sleeping, but I got up so I could take advantage of a little uninterrupted blogging time. Jim is currently out looking for deer. :) We got about 3 inches of snow yesterday, so he should be able to do a little tracking, although not for long, since it is getting dark quickly.

Before I finish, here are a couple more pictures from yesterday:




What are you thankful for this year? For us, there are too many blessings to count, but here are a few:
*God's love and gift of salvation
*The gift of family and our love for each other
*Being able to be in our new home!
*The good health of our son
*Hearing our new baby's heartbeat this week and knowing everything is going well with the pregnancy so far


Please go ahead and share some of your blessings, as well! Hope everyone had a very special Thanksgiving and a nice holiday weekend, too.