Thanksgiving Report

It was a great Thanksgiving weekend--actually, Thanksgiving week as Max had the whole week off of school so it felt like one really nice, long vacation. Let's just say, I heart my sweatpants. I also have to say that this week the fall colors were so amazing. It was spectacular just about everywhere in the area. It was like the grand finale of fall.

Our good friend Laura came down on Wednesday morning from school in NYC to spend the weekend with us. And before we put her to work peeling apples and potatoes we had to take her to a few of our local favorite spots, like Cassapulla's for an Italian sub with proscuito, and then to Longwood Gardens, where they had already transformed the conservatory into a really amazing Christmas season display. Have you ever seen a Christmas wreath made from suculent plants or a Christmas tree with only edible ornaments? Neither had I, but it was breathtaking.

That night our friends Alex and Amy and kids came in. It was a good night of eating Mexican, making pie, peeling chestnuts, and a post-kids-to-bed game of Cities and Knights with some pumpkin icecream. That's what I call a nice way to kick off the Thanksgiving weekend.

Thanksgiving day was beautiful. It must have been like 70 degrees outside. Adam, Alex, Amy and kids went to the state park with frisbees to take advantage of the morning.

The turkey. This year I tossed the turkey to Adam, and second to marrying him it may have been the best decision I've ever made. Seriously. I didn't even have to touch the turkey from start to finish (even clean-up). It was awesome. He decided he wanted to try a brined turkey since we'd never done that before, and then he approached it like a true scientist and spent a few hours (no hyperbole here) researching about the best method to brine, dry, and roast. During the roasting he had the convection fans going, two thermometers, and some fancy record keeping of times and temps. I think I see an instant-read meat thermometer in our future. But the result was well worth it as not only was an 18lb bird done in 2 1/2 hours--it was deliciously perfect. And if things couldn't get any better, Alex did all of the gravy and made a really nice cornbread and chestnut stuffing.

The Little Feasters:

The Big Feasters:

And of course, the pie was so great. But then again, there's nothing like enough pie for practically one whole pie per person. Oh, and I have to give a shout-out to Pete's Dragon for being like 3 1/2 hours long and keeping our kids occupied all afternoon.

But would it really be Thanksgiving weekend without the Black Friday sales? It might as well be Christmas morning for Adam. He and Alex went out at some insanely early hour like 4 am. and came home with stuff like portable DVD players and a GPS for the car, and the requisite free-with-rebate random accessories like jewel cases. But who am I to complain as I'm the one who gets to drive around with the new GPS and its ever-so-soothing British accent coaxing me to turn left at the next intersection.

It was also really, really nice to see our friends Devin and Linda and their kids in Philadelphia on Friday for a day-after dinner and visit (complete with another game of Cities and Knights).

So I've no complaints about the weekend except that it's made it only that much harder to get back to the waiting laundry and early school start time on Monday. Alas.