Thanksgiving

This year, we shared Thanksgiving with 3 other family's (Erin's, Laura's and Heather's) over at Heather and Dave's and it was perfect. I admit, I was happy to get a break from making the Turkey, and worrying about having the house clean and presentable - but it was more enjoyable to have the kids be with their friends and us too!

The weather was mild and warm, and the kids played happily outside while we nibbled on crackers and brie with pepper jelly and fig jam, veggies and dip and watched football, and relaxed.

Laura made place cards for the adults, from the pattern I've used for years. It's simple, but classic and I love them. Her handwriting on them was much prettier than anything I've ever done.

She also made super cute one's for the kids, using her son's hand as the "stamp."

The table looked great.

We started with cream of parsnip soup, rolls, raspberry & honey butter and cinnamon butter.

Then salad (which we brought). I tracked down an old friend, who made this salad for a Thanksgiving dinner I attended in 2001 for this dressing recipe. SO yummy. I think I put a little too much dressing on, but since I tossed it right before we served, it was OK and not too soggy.

Then the main course - all the traditional stuff, and ALL so delicious. We brought the yams, and we also had turkey (of course), garlic mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, and cranberry sauce.

I wasn't very good at taking more pictures once we started to eat - the company was great and we were having too much fun. Apparently the kids had good conversations too - I love the look on Emily's face here, I wonder what Jonah was telling her?

Laura also made this cute "Thankful tree" for the kids to write one. Jacob's thanks was just scribbles, but he told me he was thankful for Colin and little cars.
We had a dessert buffet. YUM! I brought pumpkin pies, almond and pear flan, and Rick made his award-winning (we like to throw that in there whenever we can) lemon truffle pie. We also had bittersweet chocolate pecan pie. In between dinner and dessert the kids made these cute cookie & candy crafts - which pretty much served as dessert for them.
A picture tells a thousand words ....
Emily loves any craft activity - one you can eat is even better.

Jacob was really focused on his.
Even though it ended up looking nothing like a turkey or a cornucopia!
Even Rebekah had a shot at it.

All in all a perfect day! Thanks Heather and Dave for hosting!