Thanks-given

Holidays and traditions. I'm allll about 'em. Especially if it involves large amounts of food. This year, Sean and I had the privelage of hosting Thanksgiving at our home. I was beyond excited when this was decided and look forward to new traditions that take place at our humble abode. Sean and I are so in love with our little house and enjoy having people over. I'm blessed to have a husband that is capable of building/fixing/making nearly anything and I am beyond extatic at what he's turned our house into and how we're able to make memories in it. I'm also thankful that we have family and friends so close that we are able to share these memories with. But enough of all the mushy gushy stuff. Let's get to the grub!

Every year, Sean deep fries turkeys. Usually about two or three of them, depending on who wants one, how many people we're feeding and how long after Thanksgiving we want to eat turkey. This year we kept it at two twelve pound birds. The perfect amount to feed our family and friends that came to supper and enough to have left-overs for a while. While he was slaving away watching the birds fry, chilling outside with a cool beverage, watching football, smoking a cigar and playing with the dogs (tough job), I was running around like a mad woman trying to get all of the sides ready and the table prepared for our guests. With the help of my sister-in-law and mom, we had all of the sides done right in time.

I wanted to go all out on the table decor, but due to the fact that we had seven people squished at a 6' folding table, I had to limit myself (womp womp). Anyhoo, this is what I came up with:

I borrowed a green table cloth from work, put down my burlap[ish] table runner, borrowed some gold chargers from my mother-in-law, threw out some foam gourds and used mason jars as our water glasses. The weather was absolutely beautiful that day, so I set everything up on our back porch. Although our back porch looks like it belongs in a bachelor pad, the views of our landscaping out back along with the brisk breeze was enough to remind us that we're mature adults that live in a lovely community among other established adults. Ha! Who am I kidding... The burps at the dinner table were louder than the football game blaring in the background. It's all good though, I take burps as a compliment to the delicious food. Unfortunately, this was the only picture that I got of anything (major blogger fail). But, much of our time was spent getting everything ready, stuffing our bellies and relaxing with the company of good friends and close family. This is how relaxed Sean was:

The dude was exhausted. His sweet face makes me want to pinch his cheeks. Or plug his nose. Depends on the day... Anyway, the reason why my boy was so tired was because we started our day at 6am. Every year we hop in the boat and go out to a little island not too far from my grandmother's house and meet up with friends. My parent's friends, their kids who are my friends, our friends, their friends, their friend's friends. You get the idea. We all go out there to reconnect, talk about the past year, drink bloody marys, mimosas, eat donuts and sit by a big bon fire that the guys blow way out of proportion. Something about alcohol and fire and they just get going...

We also managed to grab an awkward family picture. This is probably the 15th picture that we took because our dogs have ADHD. Notice how Sean and I are both sitting on them to hold them there. I do love how Tatum is looking up at Sean, though. It's like he's admiring his dad. Or he saw a bug. Either way, this is the best we got:



It was a great day and a great way to kick off the holiday season. I'm so excited for all of the gatherings that are to come, as well as all of the time spent with family and friends that have become family. It really is the most wonderful time of the year :)

-C Doc