show & tell: thanksgiving recap

If you missed last weeks show & tell, you can read about our normal thanksgiving traditions, and then come back here and read about what we did this year.

Ill skip the whole sob story, where i tear up about the fact that my side of the family wasnt even a part of Matthew's first thanksgiving, and instead was in a completely different country.

Moving along, Matthew woke up around 7am and hubs brought him into bed with us for some morning snuggles. I love when we do this because it puts us all in a great mood from the very start of our day, even if it is a lil earlier than we would have liked to be woken up ;) I did our normal morning routine (change, feed, breathing treatment) and then rushed down the street to my parents house to let their dogs out (yes I was dog sitting, since the were off in some tropical oasis, insert jealous face) before the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade came on.

Now I dont know about you, but watching this parade on TV has been one of my favorite memories of Thanksgiving growing up. So of course I wanted to make it a tradition to do the same with my son. So I spread out a blank on the floor and camped out with the cutest lil boy I know to watch multiple hours of the parade.

Since my family was out of town, we would be spending the day with hubs family. My mother-in-law was in town from earlier in the week when we had Matthew baptized (post coming). So we were planing on her coming over to our house before we all went to hubs aunts house to gather with the rest of the fam.

Now, im not sure if I have mentioned this on here before, but im not really the cooker (or cleaner for that matter) in our house. Hubs usually does the cooking, especially since I have almost burnt the house down twice. (who knew that milk froths when put on the stove, not me, at least not until the second time when i actually witnessed the milk catching fire). Needless to say, no one in my family counts on me to cook for the holidays. However, I am very good at baking. At least I would like to think so. So when I realized that I would not be having said potato casserole this year at thanksgiving, i knew I wanted to make it and bring it to hubs aunts for dinner. Only problem? I dont have the recipe.

I was literally searching my parents house for days trying to find where the recipe was. With no luck, i went out on a limb and emailed every person in my family on the cruise, yes 5 out of 6 of the people were on this thread, only excluding my niece because shes 6 and doesnt have an email, to tell me where i could find the recipe. My brother-in-law happen to be the one to check his email at 6am out in the middle of the atlantic ocean, and said he would ask my mother and try to email me back. Needless to say, all morning I kept checking my email, when finally around 9:30am i got an email basically stating there was no written recipe and therefore i would be going off my mothers memory, and then he proceeded to give me my mothers off-the-top-of-her-head recipe.

I made hubs run out to Albertsons, since its like the only store open on Thanksgiving, and get me all the ingredients I didnt already have. Plus, i figured I would make these oh-so-delicious homemade pumpkin woopie pies, since I had those ingredients on hand too!

Both turned out great, by the way. And I only have one lonely battle wound on my right arm when I burned myself taking the casserole out of the oven.

Once we got to hubs aunts house, Matthew was most definitely the life of the party. He was such a happy boy being passed around to different family members. Plusalso, there was football on, and our lil man, he loves to watch some football. Even though the Dolphins wouldnt be playing until Sunday, he was content with watching any team play. ;)

 

 

 

We did get a few great pics as a family of three and also a few of 4 generations, but those are on my mother-in-laws camera. Ill share once i get them.

 

I also think, that i should defintely mention that it was quite a scene once the turkey was ready. Im not exactly sure how it all began, i just know that there was an issue when it came to getting the turkey out of the actual pan. Lets just say, all 3 guys tried their hand at this task. Not until the third came in, did they realize it was probably not a good idea to take the turkey out of the pan bare-handed considering it just came out of the oven. lmao

I even got video of it because it was becoming so ridiculous.

Basically, the entire day was absolutely perfect. There was alot of laughter, family, food, and chubby baby legs. Isnt that what Thanksgiving is all about anyways?

 

 

 

 

And Ill leave you with some outtakes.....

 

 

 

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!!!! Dont forget to go link up with Becky.

show & tell: gobble gobble

This weeks show & tell is about Thanksgiving Traditions

 
1. Tell us about your family traditions for Thanksgiving
Well for the past couple of years we've actually made it a tradition to go on an annual family cruise. I remember growing up my dad always hated the holiday, not necessarily because it was a holiday. I know he enjoyed all the family and friends, but he always hated the preparations, stress, and mess all of it caused. I also remember him always suggesting that we go on a cruise instead of Thanksgiving or Christmas. For which my sister, mother, and I always responded "Absolutely NOT!" Well flash forward to us being adults and we jumped at the opportunity to be a cruise ship in the islands with our family. You mean someone else will prepare a Thanksgiving feast for us? And we dont have to clean up afterwards? Say what? COUNT ME IN! But, and there is a big but, we absolutely, most certainly, will never skip Christmas, so, if you want to do this dad, it will have to be Thanksgiving. And from then on, we've spent Thanksgiving on a cruise. (well except for 2010, when Matt and I got married 2 days after Thanksgiving). This year is also an exception. You see, the minute our lil Matthew was born, guess what my father asked me? "Did you apply for his passport yet?" Ummm hello dad, im still in the hospital, i just pushed out an 8lb 9oz baby out of my vag, no sorry I havent applied for his passport yet. lol. Plusalso, Royal Caribbean has an age policy for infants and matthew didnt make the requirements in time for this Thanksgiving. (Dont worry my father is already in the works of planning a spring break cruise to make up for us missing this one lol)

2. Tell us about your favorite foods
Umm did you see this post? sweet potato casserole, drool. But really, all the traditional thanksgiving items are my list, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, turkey, ham, green bean casserole, you name it, ill eat it ;)

3. Show us a picture that reminds you of this holiday

This was our Thanksgiving Cruise 2011. I was pregnant with Matthew at the time. (You can read about how we told some of the family we were pregnant on Thanksgiving last year here) And I think I might have cried a little on the way home from dropping all of them off at the port today to board for this years thanksgiving cruise. :(

4. Tell us, do you wait to decorate for Christmas before or after Thanksgiving?
I wish I was more prepared and able to decorate before Thanksgiving, but honestly I normally end up doing it the first week of December.

5. Tell us what you are thankful for this year
I am thankful for many things this year, but most importantly I am thankful for my family, specifically my husband for helping me create the most precious thing in the world to me, my sweet matthew. I am thankful we have a place to call our home. Food to eat every night. A great extended family who helps us whenever they can. For friends that are close enough to be considered family. For a career that helps me support my family. And for all the little enjoyable things everyday that make it so worth all the few hard times.

Dont forget to link up with Becky