Room Around the Table

Too hot to Turkey trot. Since I'd just started a new job I couldn't commit to any time off during the holiday season.  Instead, my parents decided to come up for the long weekend. Since Shannon had to work as well we wanted to make a grand ol' Thanksgiving holiday. And that's when the group gained a life of it's own. First my parents invited their friends the Chipmans',  a given to the group was MK, I wanted to invite Jack Attack, Shannon invited the missionaries and then last minute Danielle and Ge-off decided to come.

On Wednesday, my parents arrived and MK and I took everyone out to Jerusalem for dinner, i knew the Chipmans' would like it because they'd lived in the middle east for ages. Then we got home and started preparing for the next day's feast and the aaammazing recipes we found online. Such as the cornbread and roasting the chestnuts for the William-Sonoma cornbread stuffing , the spiced cranberry sauce AND the persimmon cranberry sauce , the pumpkin(s) and chocolate pecan pies. Then, after a bit of relaxing (after sending my dad and MK to the store 2x), we went to bed.

Turkey day arrived and I finished prepping my parts of the meal while Shannon went on her turkey trot run--hurrah! While we waited for the turkey to cook, we piled in the car and I took my parents the Chipmans' to the FDR and MLK Memoriasl so they could walk around. It honestly was a beautiful day, like it was the beginning of fall!

Mid afternoon everyone began arriving and the buzz and excitement got louder and louder. 2:30 came and somehow all 12 of us fit around our table! The food was a hit, the conversation was lively (and the poly missionary kept filling up his plate) that was, until we realized we'd bought tickets to the new James Bond Skyfall movie that started in 20 minutes--oops!! We quickly cleaned up, piled in our cars and zoomed over to the Hoffman (a tragedy since we'd had so much fun chatting and eating. Note for next time: a later movie!)

After the movie we came back and Geoff and Danielle, who'd just hung out at the house since they'd seen the movie, had made fresh whipped cream and we all dug into the pies. Ah, sugar and turkey comas... After the adults and slinked off to bed, Shannon and I realized it was midnight and we were still wide awake, so what did we do... midnight shopping at Target!

I know it's cliche, but it was truly a wonderful day, Only made better by the fact we got to introduce my parents to Le Pain Quotidien before they made they're way back home via dropping off the Chipmans' at SVU, then went on an adventure of our own to Michael's for framing, the mall and just RELAXED.  This one will go down in my books.

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our lovely list:

Main course:

Turkey (Shannon)

Sides:

Rolls (mom)

mashed potatoes (Shannon): butter (vegan butter), milk (lactose free milk)

sweet potatoes (Melinda): butter, sp, marshmellows

Acorn squash (Melinda): butter, cinnamon, sugar

Stuffing (Melinda)

cranberry sauce (Melinda)

Vegetables:

sautéed mushrooms: mushrooms, olive oil, garlic, seasoning

Green beans (Shannon):

salad (Jaclyn)

Quinoa salad (Melinda)

Parsnips & Carrots

Desserts:

Chocolate Pecan pie

pumpkin pie (2)

custard pie

Whipping Cream/Lactose free vanilla ice cream