Thanksgiving 2015

Right now I'm sitting in my disaster of a living room. Seriously, I'm kind of a Monica when it comes to cleaning but it's such a disaster right now that I don't really even care. That's how crazy our entire downstairs looks. It's a mix of Thanksgiving leftovers, christmas gifts that have been delivered, Christmas decorations that have been halfway put up, and tools. The table is still set for Thanksgiving dinner. BUT the tree is decorated and my inbox is currently empty so I'm taking a quick second to blog. 

Thanksgiving was different this year. Typically we have Thanksgiving with one side of the family and then race to the next side of the family for another feast. We hosted Derrick's family again this year (not sure why they decided it was a good idea after 4 fires last year!) and instead of making a mad dash for Hickory on Friday we invited my family up for a joint Thanksgiving feast. It meant we had 17 people around the table and it was definitely something new but I think it went well!

The pies were completed the day before and it was clear I don't own enough pie dishes!

 

I gave Jay the star helper award! He prepared the entire turkey under the supervision and direction of Derrick's mom. He cleaned it, stuffed it, basted it, and pulled it out of the oven. It was awesome!

See? Careful supervision.

 

Derrick's mom made Ellie this adorable Thanksgiving outfit. Pringles were not on the menu but clearly they will be when Ellie hosts Thanksgiving.

Man of the house carving the turkey.

 
I think this was when both moms were looking for serving utensils. I'm pretty sure I'll be getting some more serveware for Christmas this year. I have plenty until 18 people come over for dinner!

I did the same table setting as I did last year with brown paper and crayons. It is SO easy and the brown works for Thanksgiving.

I guess I didn't get a shot of the other table. You all know what you look like. It wouldn't be Thanksgiving unless we played with fire! This tradition started when Jay, Jack, and I were repeatedly seated at the kids table at my aunt's house. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's still where we sit. The trick is to blow the candle as low as possible without the flame going out. We shared the love and now all of Derrick's cousins can be entertained for many Thanksgivings to come!

After dinner we played a charades game called Fishbowl.

Derrick's side of the family left Thursday evening and my family stayed until Saturday. On Friday morning I went golfing with the guys to show off my new skills. I played terribly! I think I was nervous in front of my family. Derrick doesn't make me nervous but they sure do! I whiffed it 4 times on my first hole! Despite my poor performance it was a fun way to spend the morning and the weather was amazing!

The real fun was had on Saturday. Derrick and I have been doing escape rooms since we got back from London and have now completed all of the available escape rooms in the triangle. We've gone with various friend groups and with Jay and Jack when they have been in town. We saved the last one for Saturday after Thanksgiving so Mom and Dad could go with us!

We CRUSHED it! The record in this room was getting out 14 minutes to spare using all 3 hints. We escaped with 11 minutes to spare but only used 1 hint! I think that's better. In full disclosure we had two random people in our group too so there were 8 of us in the room. Dad was awarded MVP by the game master and Dad had a clutch save just when we were about to use hint 2.

Overall it was a great holiday! The holidays are nice because all of my clients are also busy so it really is like having true days off from work which is rare in this business. Now, bring on Christmas!

But first, clean Laurie...You are literally sitting on stuff sitting on your couch....CLEAN!