Thanksgiving

I spent another Thanksgiving right where I wanted to be, in my home with my own little (big) family and friends. I didn't those who had to get on a plane, or even drive a few hours.  Sure hosting is a lot of work and I began cooking over the weekend, but in a lot of ways it was pretty relaxed and I had a lot of help. By the time Thanksgiving morning arrived, if you had gotten a peak at my dining room, you wouldn't have believed that in less that three hours, I was going to be hosting 14 people, yet it all came together. 

Chris' Aunt Ginny showed up early to help (and brought her own apron), because in her words, "Thanksgiving dinner is a team sport!" She provided both color commentary and cooking trouble-shooting over the couple of hours it took us to prepare all the dishes.  Followed not long after Ginny,  Chris' parents marched in our house with a folding table, eight chairs, table linens, a turkey in a giant roaster and a large crockpot full of mashed potatoes.  It didn't take them long to transform our dining room to seat 14.

My chef partner, Chris' Aunt Ginny

Dan and Nan graciously provide the turkey so this vegetarian doesn't have to.

We had a lot to be thankful for at this Thanksgiving.  Our au pair, Celina, who has done a wonderful job of taking care of our children these past couple of months, joined us for her first American Thanksgiving.  Our friends are adopting a seven-year-old girl and this brand-new family of three also joined us.  It was incredibly special to be part of their first holiday together.  And lastly, are the two newest members of my family.  While Kiera and Matteo don't yet understand how truly thankful I am that I get to call myself their mom, that made this Thanksgiving so special for me. 

Kiera and Matteo loved all the food (except for pumpkin pie!), but perhaps Matteo ate too much turkey.

On Black Friday, instead of going shopping, the kids and I headed into the woods.  The Minnesota state park system waived its entrance fees for every park in the state on Black Friday and asked people to "opt outside".  We finally dug out all the boots, snow pants and winter coats for the kids and I was relieved to discover that no one had outgrown anything from the previous year.  We went to Fort Snelling State Park because it's so accessible given its location right in St. Paul. I didn't go with any agenda other than to let the kids roam and spend time outside and that's what they did.  Even though we got less than two inches of snow yesterday, they were happy to stomp around in the snow, make snowballs and scrape snow off fallen tree trunks.  Snow truly is magical. 

Send kids into the woods and I guarantee they're going to collect sticks.