What Does Thanksgiving Look Like??

Well, for us it started with this Halloween pumpkin a week before Thanksgiving and it is cleaned and baked for a real pumpkin pie. Look mom no can...












Then its welcoming family, the very best part of any celebration. This time Micah and Stephanie represented all of you at our table. Oh, I must not forget to mention Max of course.




On a bright sunny day like that day calls for a walk along the beach, and shell collecting. Stephanie is particularly good at finding whole shells most are VERY small.
That weekend we were on schedule to be the air traffic pattern for the airport. So we had a good view and sounds for airplanes going and coming.



You notice the day wasn't all that warm. We were wearing hats and coats but the water was beautiful and so was the sky.

Here are our guests LaVar is on the left with the missionaries Ana ( Amanda's friend), Amanda, who moved here when we did, her husband is in the navy and had duty that day as did Ana's husband. Amanda and Robert are both from large families, 10 children each. Robert and Amanda are going to be sealed in the Bountiful Temple Dec 13, we wish we could go.... Helena is on the end, she is from Finland originally. She also moved here in August from SLC and she is an interior designer by trade. Brad's furniture drives her mad. She says over and over "you have such a lovely home and that furniture".... and she goes piece by piece to explain the beauty. She made our centerpiece from persimmions and magnolia leaves and berries from her yard. She came here to take care of Winnie, a 102 year old mother of her brother-in-law. Helena's sister and Bob are on a mission in Europe, he is the medical person for all those missions. Winnie died in October and now Helena is taking care of her wonderful old home in downtown Norfolk. Helena's friend Stacy came to visit from North Carolina, they knew each other in Salt Lake City before each got a divorce. Next is Charles Blair, a champion Chess and Scrabble player and works at Subway. Doesn't ever have much to say.

This is our spread. The best thing was Helena's rolls, many things just didn't turn out to my liking. Stephanie's "red-neck salad" fruit with marshmellows and some secret ingredient that I forgot to ask about, was the only dish completely gone by dinners end. I put all my Thanksgiving recipes on the computer and then got rid of the cookbooks they came from, since I didn't need them any more...... well just exactly how do you have so much clutter on a computer that one can't find things?? I lost them, so I figured, I have been making these dishes for so long I will just remember how it's done..... not such a great idea. Potatoes can not be done ahead, and I need a good recipe for the crumble topping on the sweet potatoe pie. Jello, always a safe bet, but only 3 scoops were taken out at the end of dinner, so not a favorite when there are other things. Looks like the turkey is missing but he just had a place of honor on the bar.
So that is what our Thanksgiving looked like and we counted it a success! (not even mentioning the GREY stuffing, but the gravy was really good!) Now it's on to Christmas and that is always wonderful for me. Hope all of your Thanksgivings were wonderful too. We are thankful for all of you.
I should mention that Stephanie helped me get a jump start on Christmas by help make 3 recipes of Baklava. I tell you we have made it with all kinds of nuts, but back to walnuts and it was the best that has been made in years. She suggested we get pizza boxes to store them in until they become gifts, great idea.