A heart of gratitude, Thanksgiving 2013

The past couple of years we have traveled to spend Thanksgiving with extended family, since we just made the trip to St. Louis earlier this month, we wanted to stay home for a quiet, relaxing holiday this year. 

We had a great day. 

I spent the week browsing recipes and putting together a menu and cooking schedule.This was our first time making the whole dinner ourselves. Since it was just us, I could pick our favorite things and skip the rest...Pioneer Woman was helpful, of course, as was my friend Amber (thanks friend).  

Apparently a turkey needs to be brined? 

This was news to me, but since the experts recommended it, we put our little turkey in his salt water + herb bath and let him soak for a day. Julian did a lot of prep the night before (have I mentioned that I love him), which allowed us to have a quiet calm morning.

We ran around in our pjs, we blasted some Christmas tunes, Skyped with family, and watched a little bit of the parade. I peeled potatoes while Julian made stuffing from scratch. We were pretty proud of ourselves, it was one of those moments where you feel very adult. Here we were, two thirty year old's, just making our Thanksgiving dinner from scratch for our little boys...

Whiskey glazed carrots...best thing ever!

We had turkey, mashed potatoes, whiskey glazed carrots, handmade biscuits, stuffing, and pomegranate cranberry sauce. It was pretty simple and manageable, we were even running ahead of schedule until we made the mistake of putting too many vegetable peels down the drain, clogging the sink, oops. That was the one snafu of the day. I was worried that we would start a fire or something, so all in all it went well! 

Our table was adorned by Max's recent preschool work...

This one made me laugh and laugh. They had a bunch of food pictures they could choose from to glue on their plates. Max picked Arby's...even though he has never been to Arby's and we don't eat beef. I guess he wants to go! 

We were so comfortable in our pajamas that we didn't bother with our fancier outfits. We gathered around the table and Max led us in prayer... 

" Tick tock tick tock

This is how we hold our hands to pray 

We thank you dear Lord Jesus 

for the food you bring today."

 We took turns saying what we are grateful for, Max said he is grateful for rockets and Eli is too. We explained how Julian's job, working on rockets, provides for our family financially, so that is something to thankful for indeed. Julian and I spoke about how grateful we are to the Lord for each other, Max, Eli, family, friends, our health, and our home. 

While I love a big extended family Thanksgiving, I think there is great benefit to a small intimate one as well. We talked at length about our gratitude and blessings, the boys were able to come and go from the table, and we didn't have to worry about their table manners (or lack thereof). 

We finished off with a yummy pear crumble and vanilla ice cream. 

At the end of the day we were stuffed, content, and deeply grateful for another year of blessings. 

It was simple, quiet, and just what we needed. 

We always judge the recipes we try out by whether or not we would prepare them for guests, all of these recipes passed the test, and now we have one Thanksgiving dinner under our belt!

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The rest of the weekend has continued to be quiet and restful. We put up our Christmas tree and decorations, did some holiday crafting, spent time with friends, and had a "date night" watching 'The Great Gatsby' curled up on the couch. 

Good stuff. 

I look forward to wrapping presents all year long. I love wrapping presents!! 

Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving!