Thanksgiving 2011

My fam always spends Thanksgiving in Pensacola, but since things have been so busy lately, we decided to stay home and have Thanksgiving with just us (and my brother). I love this time of year, I love the days off, the eating, music, shopping, basically everything. And, I am so thankful for the many blessings in my life.

We planned our Thanksgiving menu about a week ahead of time and got about half of it on Sunday. I was off Wednesday and Z's school was open (score), so I was able to go get the other half of our ingredients then. It wasn't until about 4 that we realized we didn't have dinner for that night, so I went back to Publix Wednesday evening (with Z) and picked up the ingredients for baked ziti. That was not so fun, but the ziti was great, and even Z ate it (which is rare). Nick had bought Skyrim for the Xbox and he surprised me with a Nintendo 3DS, which I now am thinking was a distraction for me so he and Faris could play Skyrim for hours at a time and I would be occupied. But, I appreciated it, and I played my share. We were trying to recreate Thanksgiving 2 years ago because we played a lot of Mario and Z slept though the night for the first time. It was marvelous, and I think we came really close.

So, on Thursday morning, I made a monkey bread recipe that I saw on Pinterest and Nick started on the (15 lb.) turkey around 12. It was supposed to be fresh, but we found out that the inside was a little frozen. Nick had to run hot water through it, but eventually got it ready, stuffed it and put it in. Well, I think we underestimated how long it would take it to reach the correct temperature, and how long it would take to make the 5 sides we wanted when they could only go in one at a time, because we didn't get to eat until almost 8 o'clock! And, even then, we had to cut the turkey off the top and sides because the insides weren't done. There was going to be no more waiting, because we were all getting a little testy by that point, but it turned out great and oddly enough, it didn't take much for us to get really full. We had pumpkin pie (frozen) and banana pudding (homemade, thankyouverymuch) for dessert. They were delicious!

After we ate and cleaned up, Nick and Faris played 'the game,' I fell asleep, and before we knew it it was midnight. I suggested they get out and get into the Black Friday madness because they were already up, and they probably would spend the rest of the night playing that stupid game if they didn't get up and go do something. They went to the Target/Best Buy/Game Stop area, and found that apparently people were not in the Christmas spirit. Nonetheless, Nick found a good deal on a TV and bought himself the Nintendo 3BS Zelda version (I'm not kidding, people). I totally approved both purchases.

He still got up at a decent hour and we did drop 'n go at the Y for Z and did more shopping at the Summit. Although we didn't really buy anything, it was nice to get out by ourselves. Then we went out that night to the Galleria while Faris played Skyrim stayed with sleeping Z. Speaking of sleeping Z, he slept great the whole weekend! He went to bed around 7:30, woke up at 8, took great naps and was generally a pleasant little Thanksgiving companion! We got a lot of sleep too (at least I did). I finally ripped the boys away from 'the game' got to start decorating the house on Saturday. We watched the Iron Bowl while we trimmed the tree, and Z actually helped.

All in all, it was a great weekend! We enjoyed the quiet before my WHOLE FAMILY will be here during Christmas and New Year's! We haven't all been together in SO LONG, and I can't wait, but I can tell you one thing, quiet it will not be. (Hopefully, I will take more pictures then, too).