Happy Thanksgiving!

We had decided earlier in the month to hold our Thanksgiving dinner during the late afternoon today. Brett wasn't sure of his schedule at work and both Nick and Hannah-Marie's families planned to eat at 1 p.m.  Therefore we chose 4 p.m. for our family feast and were extremely thankful that everyone could join us.  

In the end I actually preferred the late dinner.  It gave Doug plenty of time to prepare the meal and watch the Bears game.  We even got in a game of Catan before everyone arrived.  It was by far the most relaxing Thanksgiving afternoon that I could remember.  Last year Doug wanted to try lasagna for our main dish, but returned to turkey this year.  We all liked the lasagna, but thanks to Bell Trace Brett brought home a twenty-one pound bird for us to enjoy.  That along with mashed potatoes, noodles, green bean casserole, homemade bread, apple pie, and apple dumplings made for a wonderful meal.  I didn't even complain about the oyster dressing and was impressed that both Cal and HM tried Doug's favorite dish.  I in turn surprised everyone when I tried a piece of turkey.  I hadn't had the Thanksgiving staple in over twenty years.  It was definitely better than I remembered.

After dinner everyone except for Meg, Grandma and I played pool.  We used the time to clean the kitchen.  Cal and HM were the first ones to leave as they had plans to go "Black Friday" shopping with Robyn and Mike.  The rest of us then had time to play Disney Scene It before Meg and Nick headed to Glenbrook as well.  Oh Hell was next on the agenda and then a three way match of Ticket to Ride between Doug, Brett and I.  A fortunate block of the path from Portland to Seattle and we finally found a way to beat Doug.  It was a fun way to end a wonderful day!