I was lucky enough to have work off this Thanksgiving. We made plans with Kris' grandpa and the Rounds family for a traditional turkey dinner on Thursday. I still wanted to spend time with my sister and my nieces and nephew so we planned our first annual "Fakes Giving." A "fake" Thanksgiving done the way we want! We decided to have our Fakes Giving the day before Thanksgiving.
We made a huge Mexican food spread with beans and rice, chips, layered dip and spicy beef. We had all the fixings your could imagine--tomatillo salsa, guacamole, onions, olives and sour cream to top off our food creations how ever we wanted to. Everything was kept on warming plates so the second helping was just as good as the first! We knocked back a few plates of nachos and then started on the games. We played board games like Life and Rummicube and listened to records. I pulled a few from Sarah and I's "childhood" and rocked Radiohead, the Shins, Catherine Wheel, Sunny Day Real Estate and Superdrag. It was so much fun to reminisce about where we'd been when we first loved those bands and our favorite songs. I love how music can transport us to another time and place. It's even more fun when I can share it with my family. Kris had to work but he got home in time to fill up on tacos and help clean up. What a good hubby I have!
It was a wonderful way to spend the "fake" holiday and I hope we do it again next year. My only regret is that with so much food and so many kids running around I hardly took any pictures! In fact, these are the only three on my camera from that day....go figure. Buncha weirdos!
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| (why this pic won't flip is a mystery to me, but Nate is still cute!) |
Thursday I made sure to sleep in a little (I NEVER get to sleep in anymore...and I sure do miss it!) and then started prepping our food for the Rounds Thanksgiving dinner. Kris was sweet enough to peel over eight pounds of potatoes for me (I mentioned that he's my dream guy, right?) for the creamy basil mashed potatoes while I prepped the homemade stuffing (I even cut and dried all my own bread cubes!) and the cheesy artichoke dip for appetizer. I also made Kris his special Field Roast (it's Vegan turkey!) with rosemary, potatoes, carrots and celery. With some planning and and watching the clock, we were able to get everything cooked on time and ready to get to Bapa's. We made sure to pack some more board games so we could play while we digested.
We had a great dinner with family. The food was excellent. Bapa cooked the turkey (his first EVER) and it was melt in your mouth delicious. We had traditional green bean casserole and not so traditional sweet potatoes with carmelized red onions. Everything was so tasty I wish I didn't get full so fast because I wanted seconds of everything.
Kris brought his guitar and he played while me and the kids played board games and just enjoyed the company. It was very relaxing and fun to "pot luck" the meal instead of having to do all the cooking myself.
We hope everyone had a safe and happy Holiday. I'm so thankful for my little family, my friends and all those in my life who help me want to be a better person. Thank You!
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| Beautiful Genevieve (can't figure out how to flip the picture!) |
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| Thankful for my sweet Hubby |
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| Attack of the sisters! |
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| stoked for a Coke |
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| WINK! |
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| so full! |
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| Doesn't stop with the video games...ever! |
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| Playing Apples to Apples and the subject was "PROFOUND" and my kids threw down Abraham Lincoln AND Bruce Willis. HAHA! |
