Happy Thanksgiving!

I love cooking, I love family, and I love Thanksgiving!  This year we had dinner at our  house and had Dave's cousin Rob, his lovely wife Mary, and their 5 children come over.  Dave's colleague from India, Naveen, also joined us for his first ever American Thanksgiving dinner.  Rob and Mary have four girls (and 1 boy,) add them to our two girls and it makes for some real fun girl time.

I can't speak for everyone, but I had a great time.  The dinner was good and the company even better.

During the last minute rush to get everything finished in the kitchen, the girls went to work making turkey placecards out of oranges, marshmallows and turkeys.  They did a great job and even organized where everyone would be sitting. 

This year our turkey finished a little earlier than expected but fortunately, I was able to keep it warm and it made it to the table with everything else, no problem.

After dinner, the girls played a few games including a rousing round of Twister.  The guys watched a football game and we all enjoyed dessert: pumpkin bars, cherry pie and coconut cream pie.

As the evening wound down, there was definitely a sense of happiness and gratitude as I looked back on the day and the year: grateful for the many blessings we enjoy, for the Lord's merciful hand in our lives, for my own little family, and for our extended family.  It has been a great pleasure to be close to Rob and Mary and have the opportunity to get to know them better.

Following the party and a little clean-up after everyone had gone home, I went out with a few friends for some late night shopping.  We went to the outlet mall which opened at 9pm.  I found some good deals and earned some sore feet by the time I got home at 2:30am, but it was fun!!  And good ol' Dave finished the dishes while I was gone.