Thanksgiving Review in Words and (grainy) Pictures

The day started slowly for me. Dave did almost all the cooking, and I decided I was going to force myself to take things slow. I had nothing on my to-do list, and I just let myself do nothing for a few hours. It was a little anxiety inducing to not be working on something, but it also felt really good.

Then, we realized something. When one family member spends and entire day working in the kitchen preparing a huge meal, sometimes we forget that people still need to eat before the big meal is ready. So, at midday, we were all starving. After a quick trip to the store, we sat and ate, sans utensils, some frozen, ready made pierogies, and some snap peas.

Real Classy.

When I took out the camera, Max said, "Are you kidding?" But, I said, "But this is just one of those little family moments that's kind of fun." 

At that point, our table looked like this:

So then I got to work on making it look like this:

I know I'm not going to be replacing Martha Stewart anytime soon, but I liked the way it looked, and I was pleased with my runner made from the back of old calendar pages, a stencil, and some paint. 

After the smoke cleared (due to some grease at the bottom of the oven), the guests arrived, dinner was served, we talked and laughed, kids played, grown ups talked and laughed some more, and then before you know it-pumpkin pie:

Something I need to work on: I always feel shy about taking pictures of other grown ups. You have to be a little assertive to tell people to look at you and smile, or just to keep putting your camera in their face. So, I don't do it  much. Which is a shame. But it also meant that I was totally present to enjoy the meal and the company, instead of worrying about taking photos. 

Oops, gotta go. The kitchen is filling up with smoke again. Got to go clean that oven.