Day 3,4 & 5: Thanksgiving Weekend

Clearly my resolve to blog every day is not nearly as strong as my desire to spend time with family especially if that time is spent around a table filled with good food.

To tell you the truth this is my first thanksgiving away from my family and I feel so blessed to be so busy! We had not one but TWO dinners, spent lots of time with family and to top it all off my most amazing husband and I celebrated our first anniversary yesterday! Since I missed two days I thought I should give you a quick recap of all the great things I did to keep me away from the computer.

Day 3: A Traditional Thanksgiving

 The day started early because I had to work but there were special visitors in town and the in-laws wanted to go out for a meal since the whole family was in town. The only way to make that happen is if we went out for breakfast.

They may never take me out to breakfast again. I couldn't even finish a side of toast. I hear that it is genetic that I don't like to eat breakfast. Mom would always leave peanut buttered toast with one bite eaten out of it on the table and it seems that I have started doing that too. I decided it would be just fine because I was going to be eating lots of food later.

After a quick breakfast I was whisked away to work at a tuxedo rental store which is usually pretty fun. I learned how to use a blind hemmer. It's just a fancy sewing machine that only does a specific stitch that can easily be taken out later if you know the trick. God created men in a lot of different shapes and sizes so there was lots of hemming to do!

After work it was time to go for dinner. Back in BC during this weekend we would spend one night with Mom's side of the family and one night with Dad's family. This year I got to spend one night with Mom's side of the family too. Not exactly the same family as I am used to or the same cook but you can easily taste that they are sisters. The food was delicious and there was plenty of it to go around. The best part was dessert. Chocolate trifle! It is a famous family recipe that Mom didn't inherit considering her lack of skills in the baking area but it sure made me feel ... well full would be the right word but it certainly put a smile on my face anyway! It was a long day but just as good as any traditional family dinner back home used to be!

Day 4: A Not-So-Traditional Thanksgiving

My first clue as to what kind of dinner this was going to be was that my husband said "Dad doesn't like turkey." My first thought was "Well then he is cooking it wrong!" However I can't really fault him for his particular food preferences because I happen to be even worse than him. Instead of turkey we would be having chicken.

My second clue as to what dinner would be like was that the next thing that my husband said was "Dad doesn't like potatoes." I was looking forward to having potatoes more than once in a month finally and here he had gone and taken them away from me! I had to put my foot down at that moment.

What kind of Dutch Thanksgiving is it if there are no potatoes? So I offered to make them myself BUT since no one in the family seems to particularly enjoy potatoes I had to step them up a notch so they would at least try them. I decided the best way to conceal the potatoes was to cover them in something else. Too bad Mom never taught me how to make gravy but my garlic and cheese mashed potatoes worked out just fine. Everyone had some and I now hope that my little brother-in-law's new relationship lasts because his girlfriend took heaping seconds! She is more than welcome to come over so I have another excuse to make potatoes again.

We had dinner by candle light which was nice since it was also our anniversary. Not quite as romantic as I had hoped but that's what we get for getting married on the holiday weekend. It was a special day nonetheless and I hope that it is a good indicator of what's to come in the years ahead.

Day 5: Now What?

Today was a lazy day of relaxation. At least for me it was. It started with being woken up by an alarm that wasn't supposed to be set but still went off at its usual early timing. You can only lie in bed for so long before the ideas of what to do that day make you get up. I wanted to start a few projects around the house while my other half wanted to finish a few that he had already started. My idea included a trip to the thrift store so today I won out.

For the past six months we have been living without a coffee table in our TV room. You wouldn't think that would be so horrible but it does become quite a nuisance if you have lived all your life expecting to have one there. Our makeshift table hasn't been that useful and lately we have gotten tired of it.

So when we saw this beauty for $15 we couldn't pass it up. We shoved it into the back of the car and took it home. A quick stop at the local hardware store and we had everything we needed to give it a facelift. My favourite person in the world spent two and a half hours sanding it down for me! I can't wait to see what it looks like when we are finished with it.

We finished the day off by going out to Moxie's with the family for an early birthday dinner for my handyman. I don't drink very often but when I do I get the sweetest drink on the menu and finish it way too fast and now my legs won't stop bouncing and my sentences don't end! Time to sleep it off with the anticipation of working on my new project tomorrow to make my house feel a little more like home.