So Much Fooooood

Thanksgiving has come and gone. Thankfully! I have spent the last few weeks and days leading up to Thursday obsessing about the food, menus, presentation, the lack of utensils and necessary items for hosting a holiday, etc. Needless to say, I have been annoying about Thanksgiving.

I also have to say I can't be more pleased with how the day turned out. I had a tough week thinking about my family being together on Thursday and Dan and I being here. I was excited for our friendsgiving, but worried we would miss out on the family part of the day in Memphis, Pittsburgh and Raleigh. And we did miss everyone, but our day turned out to be perfect. And I was able to skype with my family in Memphis and see everyone there!

We had a whole day of food and fun planned starting around 11 am. I made an egg and sausage bake for breakfast with veggie trays, fruit and Mike & Laura brought mimosas for the morning round. The boys said the egg bake was their favorite egg dish they have ever had. Yay! Great start to the day. We had the Macy's parade on followed by football games.

I have too much time on my hands :)

During the day while the food was cooking we played some cards and really just hung out. We all talked about our plans for the next stop- no one has any yet :) - and just enjoyed the company.

We ate lunch around 4 pm and everyone enjoyed the food. The turkey turned out great. Very easy to make and was tasty! It did cook a lot faster than we had thought it would so we spent some time trying to figure out how to make the turkey stay moist and warm until 4. Laura suggested we let it sit covered for a while then we browned it up right before serving. Great first turkey! It will definitely be my go to recipe now!

Finished product

The rest of our menu included: roasted sweet potatoes with toppings (brown sugar, roasted chopped pecans, butter, salt and pepper), mashed potatoes, multi grain stuffing, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce and rolls.

Once we were stuffed we all played some more cards and watched the end of the Cowboys game. Around this time we were ready for some coffee and fresh air. We all walked to Starbucks and got enough caffeine to get us through the rest of the night. When we came back it was time for dessert- homemade pumpkin pie and chocolate lust cake. So good. Laura's pumpkin pie was incredible!

We spent the rest of the night drinking and playing cranium and a mixed version of charades that Mike and Laura had played before. It was hilarious and so much fun! In the end we all agreed that this years Thanksgiving topped our lists of fun holidays. We we so excited to try our first holiday on our own and we very pleased that we made it so much fun! We were also incredibly lucky to have each other to spend the day with.

Here are some more pictures of the day. I will also post the recipes in a separate post in case you are interested.

Homemade centerpiece- a pickle jar, twine & flowers

Table Setting

We were prepared

And more....

Some game action

Finn wanted nothing to do with the chaos...except for some turkey

Sweet Potato Bar

Group Shot before dinner

The aftermath

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We had a lot to be thankful for this year for sure. Enjoy the rest of your long weekend!

xo