thanksgiving thoughts

our first thanksgiving in seattle has come and gone. it was a cozy, low-key day with just the four of us. a complete 180 from our normal holidays back in minneapolis where we would try to make it to multiple gatherings in one day. while we missed spending the day with our families, it was kind of nice to keep things simple. 

azalea's craft from preschool, yes, i know it says "asher" (assistant teacher's fault) ;) i love that she is thankful for mac and cheese. haha! 

the morning started off with a bit of a bummer (mostly for me). i love watching the macy's parade each year, but we never set up "real" tv here (only streaming), so despite our best efforts to find it on streaming and dig out our bunny ears antenna, we were unsuccessful in watching the parade. normally i would have let something minor like that put a damper on my day. along with feeling like my kids weren't dressed perfectly or happy or well-behaved enough. but i made a promise to myself that i would enjoy the day, no matter how it went. life is too short to dwell on things not being perfect. and honestly - when are they ever? i'm still a work in progress in that department. 

keepin' it real that this is what our place looks like most of the time. 

i told thatcher that i really wanted to make a traditional thanksgiving meal. thanksgiving food is not his favorite, so i know he wasn't thrilled with the idea, but he loves me a lot and you better believe he showed it by making sure we had everything covered. some of the food we prepared the night before, but most of it we did on thanksgiving. it was nice to not have the pressure of time constraints or the worry of "messing" up the meal for anyone (but ourselves). the house smelled so good all day! 

i ended up taking the kids to a playground in the morning, to get them out of the kitchen for a bit. they were pretty eager to help and we all know how that goes. of course we let them help some. it was a gorgeous day - 50 and sunny! there was a small part of me that felt a little jealous seeing pictures of the falling snow back home. but i'll be there in a couple weeks and that'll be enough of a fix for me! lots of families were at the playground. it felt good to get out! 

the kids took long naps in the afternoon, and i took that time to fully relax. no working, no laundry, etc. i watched some episodes of friends and parks and rec and it was glorious. the turkey took a little longer than we thought, but that was ok. we ate at 5pm after the kids' naps. i even put out pretty place mats. 

our 7 lb turkey. our first time preparing one!

turkey, stuffing, mashed sweet potatoes, asparagus, rolls, and chocolate pecan pie - all homemade! oh, and jellied cranberries from a can ;) 

isn't the pie pretty? thatcher gets all the credit for that one. 

we ended the night curling up on the couch with the kids and watching "lilo and stitch". well, ashford mostly jumped or climbed on us the whole time. 

thanksgiving brought a flood of memories of my dad for me. he always loved making a big turkey and all the sides. he once helped me prepare one back when we first moved into our old house and hosted thanksgiving. my day was mostly filled with fond memories of him. i think it certainly helped that i was in a new place for my first holiday without him and, he and my mom often spent thanksgiving in florida anyway. i know he was with us in spirit.