"Grown-up" Thanksgiving

We spent our first Thanksgiving together, just our own little family of three with another family of three. I had a feeling that when we moved to Texas, it would be extra hard to travel for the holidays, and that we would probably end up spending it here. When we first moved here, I hoped (and sometimes prayed) that we would be able to find friends to have thanksgiving with so we wouldn't be on our own. Well, thank heavens prayers are answered! I was a little sad the day before and morning of.. missing my family, missing cold weather, but we made up for it by keeping with some of the same traditions that my family has always had, and of course Brent got to play his football game with guys in the ward that morning. I heard later that "Brent Guerisoli was the best one out there." Not a surprise to me because I've heard that since I met him, but when people first meet him, it's always fun for me to hear people say how good he is at sports, although it doesn't do much for his big head. Okay, enough blog bragging. After Brent played football, I had organized a turkey trot with a few families who were around to participate, because this is one of the things my family does (see last years turkey trot HERE.) It was a short walk (2 miles) and all the kids got dollar prized, the winner received an Itunes gift card, and I gave all the adults that participated a fiberone bar.. yeah I know, not the most creative prize!

Here we are after the walk, all sweaty!

The whole group before the walk!

Now onto our dinner...

Alyssa and I had never done thanksgiving on our own before and it was a blast to do it all together. It is amazing how much work it is, and it was good to start out by just having to prepare for four people! The day before we made homemade stuffing (which was probably my favorite part!), yummy cranberry sauce, and we decided to forgo pies and do Cheesecake factory's Pumpkin Cheesecake! I will definitely be making it again. Two days before we brined the turkey and then Alyssa stuffed it and cooked it that morning. They also did the mashed potatoes and gravy and creamed corn. After our turkey trot, we made homemade rolls, which were also wonderful. Then, I brought green beans, my family's pomegranate salad, my aunt rose's "death by yams," (they are not really called that) which consist of tons of butter, a bag of brown sugar, a bottle of REAL maple syrup, and a jar of mrs. richardson's butterscoth caramel, topped with candied pecans and baked in the oven for 4 hours. But they did the trick so I could feel like I was at home!

Our wonderful hosts, who are so domestic much to our delight -Alyssa carving the turkey, and Grant making the gravy.

Alyssa, and I - why did we not get more pictures of us doing all the baking days before??

Alyssa does such a fab job at setting the scene. Look at this beautiful table!

The bead-studded-pear name cards, also beautiful.

Here is our spread. We had so much leftover food that we split it between the four of us, and Brent and I have been eating it for the past three days and we still have a little left. Thanksgiving leftovers are my favorite.

The little girls being silly after dinner. They tryptophan in the turkey must have made them hyper and made the adults sleepy. We all had to sit on the couch and just "chill" for awhile.

I love this picture because Brent looks so full and is pulling a half smile!

See? We made it through our first "grown-up" thanksgiving, without our mommies, although they were sorely missed!