Our Thanksgiving Festivities, Part 2

Wednesday was the day that we were going to be actually celebrating Thanksgiving at my parents' house. Mark and I and Kelly and Colton all had to leave that evening, so we decided to do lunch, but there were scheduling conflicts that left Kelly and me to cook about half of Thanksgiving dinner. I've made a few dishes here and there for Thanksgiving, and have watched my mom for years now, but this was the first time that I was in charge of the turkey, plus several side dishes! Luckily it all went without a hitch, and dinner was fantastic!

The turkey going in the oven - my mom chose to do 2 breasts rather than a whole turkey this year (which was just fine with me), and I rubbed them all over with sage butter. So yummy!

Kelly loves her some Sister Schubert's rolls!

Before getting pretty...

And after! We figured we had a few minutes to get ready while the turkey started cooking :)

Kelly making our grandma's vegetable casserole

Dumping it in the dish...

Making sweet potato casserole from my CSA sweet potatoes :)

The spread. And what a spread it was! Turkey, dressing, green beans with lemon and red peppers, sweet potato casserole, vegetable casserole - it was all SO yummy! (And amaretto pie for dessert, too - yum yum!)

Mommy with the table, decorated all pretty :)

The gang, minus me (taking the picture)

Colton was nice enough to offer to take a picture of our whole family for us :)

Still sickly, but enjoying the food!

Mark and "Momma Shannon"

Daddy was excited about some sweet potatoes!

Kelly and Ninny ready to eat

That afternoon, we played a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit, and then Mark and I left that evening for Griffin. The puppies were introduced and did really well (aside from Luna picking the dining room as her chosen place to poop, and Cocoa acting completely out of character and peeing ALL OVER the living room rug...), and we were off to bed.

Thanksgiving morning dawned brisk and clear and beautiful and warm. We let the dogs play that morning, put Thanksgiving dinner on to cook, and then decided to go to "the farm," basically a 114 acre piece of land that Mark's family owns. It's beautiful out there, so quiet, and made for the perfect way to spend Thanksgiving.

The puppies playing - Cocoa's not such a puppy anymore...

They like each other! 

Out at the farm - Mark's dad and Cocoa :)

Luna really hates the water - we kept trying to get her to go in, but she wasn't having any of it. She went in once (potentially not so voluntarily), swam around a bit, and came right back out.

Cocoa, on the other hand, would LIVE in the water if she could. I think in another life she could be a fish :)

Mark's mom with the dogs

I love going to the farm on fall days like that - it's absolutely gorgeous :)

With my love on Thanksgiving :)

The last picture I got before my camera died ... Mark's carrying Luna to a big old log where some bunnies live to see if she'll go "wabbit hunting." She caught the scent, but there were too many other smells distracting her for her to really follow it well.

Mark's dad and brother brought their guns, and we walked around and looked for deer - I'm sure all the noise we were making totally scared them off, but it was a great, leisurely way to get some exercise before stuffing ourselves silly again :) We went back to the house, ate another fantastic Thanksgiving dinner and vegged on the couch the rest of the day. Mark and I had to leave the next day so I could get back to work, but it was honestly the nicest Thanksgiving I've had since we've been married. I think because it was so low-key, totally not stressful at all, it was a really, really nice time for everybody :)

Can't wait till I see Mark's family again - we'll be Orlando-bound!