Thankful For Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving.  I really do.  It is a fall holiday which means there are pretty colored leaves on the ground, a chill in the air, and pumpkins everywhere. Amazing.  I always get so excited for Thanksgiving.  It's great if you stay home and host folks or if you go out and visit with family and friends.  Plus it is the beginning to the holiday season which makes everything feel just a little bit more special and like you are a kid again.

I always get nostalgic at Thanksgiving.  I made Cliff watch the parade with me yesterday and I sadly will admit that I always tear up when I watch it.  One year mom and dad took me to New York as a birthday present to see the parade.  It was raining and we were running late to get on the line so we stopped at a McDonalds and bought expensive New York breakfast biscuits.  It was raining so hard that the bottom of our paper bag fell out in the middle of the street (a busy NYC street) and our food went to the ground.  It didn't matter, we picked up the soggy wrapped biscuits and went on our way.  For anyone who knows my dad and me, you will understand the significance of us eating anything that fell in the street :) It was so much fun and it makes me smile just thinking about it.  I love the parade.

This year we were excited to host friends and family in our new apartment.  Brie (Cliff's cool cousin) lives in Portland so she came down for the event and Kathy and Jill (our super amazing friends from college) traveled down from Portland as well.   We wanted to do Thanksgiving with a bit of a southern flair so we tried to spice the traditional menu up a bit.  Our menu included:

• Bacon wrapped dates for an appetizer (thanks Katie and Read for introducing us to them last year!)
• My deviled eggs
• Brie's asparagus, beet, argulula, and chevre salad
• Brie's amazing collard greens (I want the recipe so bad)
• A lovely 12 lb. Walmart turkey
• Cornbread stuffing
• Cliff's homemade cranberry sauce
• Corn bread
• Cliff's sweet potato pie
• Kathy's pecan pie (always a must)
• Jill's delicious chocolate pie (we requested it as it is just that good)
• Apple dessert wine that we bought back in Virginia and saved for a special occasion

My one frustration was with my deviled eggs.  Our family always made deviled eggs for family holiday celebrations (sometimes they would be picked in beet juice!).  I remember being little and watched the parade (see...I love the parade) from our kitchen and helping mom make them.  I never remember them turning out anything but perfect yet somehow in my adulthood I have never managed to make a batch where every eggshell comes off cleanly.  It makes me so mad!  Deviled eggs are now my thing and I would like to make them not only tasty but pretty.  I have heard that older eggs peel easier but what does a person do when you have no choice but to use fresh eggs that you bought at the store just a few days earlier?  Any suggestions?  I would be extremely thankful.

Everything was so good and it was so nice to have everyone in our little house.  Great Thanksgiving.  We sat around chatting, laughing, and goring ourselves on pie and then we relaxed in our living room and played with Rudy.  We were going to go see the Muppets (the Muppets!) but there was not enough time and we were way too full to function.  Kathy and Jill sadly had to return back to Portland but Brie got to spend the night.  It was so nice hang out.  This morning we got up and went to breakfast at Off the Waffle and then Brie went back home.  I was so sad when everyone left as Thanksgiving went by way too fast!  Oh man.

Cliff and I have been shocked at how easy the clean up is this year.  We stayed on top of the dishes throughout the whole prepping and cooking process so the kitchen and house are not a disaster.  It is awesome.  One more round of dishes and we will be all set.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I know that we have a lot to be thankful for and were very lucky to share the holiday with great  people.

Now onward to Christmas!