Thanksgiving/Friendsgiving!

We have so very many things to be thankful for this year (SO SO many!) not the least of which is the unexpected blessing of still being in Winston with friends we love! Since many of these sweet friends would be spending the holiday here sans extended family we were lucky enough to get to have a big old party for Thanksgiving dinner.

The Whites, Baileys, Evans, and McKays all joined us meaning our feast was made for 10 adults and 7 kiddos (well, Juliette didn't technically partake, but she did get passed around, admired, snuggled, and fed some bottles). Steve and I broke out our wedding china and silverware and whipped up some ribs (our family tradition--we aren't turkey people) and homemade applesauce (plus an apple pie from Costco). Our guests brought turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, a strawberry-pretzel and a green salad, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and homemade rolls! It was a mouth-watering spread, and most (if not all?) of us went back for seconds.

I totally stole this picture from Hannah's blog. Hi Hannah! ...and um, sorry... :)

I did a terrible job taking pictures, but I did get a few of everybody lounging as we finished getting the meal prepared. (We actually ate only 30 minutes after the 1 o'clock start time, which I found super impressive!)

A national dog show came on after the Macy's parade ended, and everyone just kind of casually hung around watching it for a while--until Steve and Mike decided to convince Lance that this was THE thing to do on Thanksgiving. They kept saying things like, "Lance have you really never watched this before? What do you usually watch on Thanksgiving?!" (to which Lance replied, "Um... football?" very confusedly... like, what had he gotten himself into, right?). Mike then launched into a commentary about which bulldogs he preferred (French over English, obviously) and asked Lance's opinion. Lance said something about growing up with a pitbull and Steve and Mike debated whether pitbulls were a pure enough breed to be considered in the nationals. And the pièce de résistance: Mike actually pulled out his iPhone after Thanksgiving dinner--not to check football scores, but to check who had won the dog show. After which he and Steve announced to everyone that the "Pom" had triumphed. (They're dog show pros, so they clearly wouldn't bother saying the whole word "Pomeranian.")

Juliette peaking over Lance's shoulder during her (and his) first annual Thanksgiving Dog Show viewing. :)

Dinner was yummy and entertaining. We enjoyed eating and complimenting each other's food, discussing all of our feelings about preparing a turkey (Steve and I will never do it again), and learning that Mike's sleep-breathing sounds to his wife like a child crying.

After dinner the kids ran off to play, the ladies retired to the living room to talk about pregnancy (3 of the 5 of us were pregnant, and I had clearly just finished that up myself) while the guys did the dishes (wonderful men!) and then headed to the family room to talk about medicine (we ended up with all doctors and med students this year) and watch football (the dog show was over, so I guess it was their only option).

After we'd all digested and talked for a few hours we gathered in the kitchen to attack the pies (chocolate, pumpkin, apple, and apple-berry) dolloping ice cream on our plates and spraying whipped cream on in the traditional fluffy white spirals.

We ended the evening with a Skype call to Steve's family (in California and Utah)--which helped stave off that niggling homesickness a bit--followed by a relaxing sipping of some leftover sparkling cider in plastic champagne flutes after the kids were in bed. :)