Turkey Day

This is the second year in a row that we didn't have Thanksgiving at our home. Last year we celebrated at the dining hall here on base because we were still living in a hotel. This year our friends the Arteagas (who we met while living in a hotel last year) invited us to share Thanksgiving at their home. It's a different experience, not making the full meal. We were able to sleep in and take it easy pretty much all day. There was some work to be done in the kitchen because we did contribute some of our favorite sides and desserts to the feast, but not very much work and it certainly wasn't an all-day endeavor. 


Natalie has loved pumpkin pie ever since Mrs. Bainter, her second-grade teacher, shared her secret family recipe with the class. She has been looking forward to Thanksgiving and making her pumpkin pie for months now. I set her loose in the kitchen and she did a fantastic job following the recipe and making a pretty perfect looking pie that also tasted great. It's such a crazy time of year and I'm the last person who wants to take the time to create Instagram worthy baked goods right now. Luckily Natalie is ten and has lots of time to make masterpieces!


It was a beautiful sunny day today and because we didn't have a ton of work to do in the kitchen there was plenty of time to relax and enjoy the sunshine. This afternoon Emily fell asleep on a sunny spot on the floor. I tried to wake her up and get her to move to the couch or to her bed and she sleepily insisted that she wanted to sleep "on the floor like a cat."


It's not a holiday meal around here without this cinnamon pull-apart bread. This is a recipe from my childhood and the one thing I most looked forward to eating each Christmas when I was growing up. Now my love for this bread has been passed down to our kids. Most people would probably call this monkey bread but my mom never did because it's not exactly monkey bread. It's less sticky and sweet and something that I feel falls into the dinner roll category more than the dessert one. 


Today we learned that none of our kids are very good at Mario Kart but that it's still fun to play. Natalie especially struggled, often driving her car into walls, cows, and other racers. She was excited any time she finished a race and wasn't dead last. 


Emily and Chris are both seniors at the high school and they have a couple of classes together. Abigail had been dutch braiding Samantha's hair and I guess Chris wanted in on the fun so Emily did her best to put a french braid in his hair. Yeah, teenagers can be strange.


Amanda is a great cook and a wonderful hostess and dinner was fantastic. Truly, each dish was more delicious than the last and if it were physically possible I would have eaten seconds of everything. As it is, I'm already looking forward to eating the leftovers they sent us home with. I'm pretty sure macaroni and cheese with some bacon wrapped asparagus on the side will be my lunch tomorrow. Really though, the best part of Thanksgiving is the pies. I managed to grab a quick picture of all seven pies (seven pies for eleven people!) before we descended like wolves and gobbled them up. I personally ate three slices of pie and my favorites of the evening were the lemon cream pie and the chocolate chip cookie pie. I'm thinking next year we skip the big heavy meal and just have a pie buffet. What do you think?

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