Thanksgiving Joys

Aloha! Talofa! Mabuhay! Maayong adlaw! Gruss Gott! Ni Hao! Our heartfelt greetings to all our loved ones and friends.

Well, it’s time for another big post.

First, a belated Happy Thanksgiving to all! I hope everyone was able to enjoy their friends, family, and feasting! This has been a year to be thankful for!

We planned to spend the day with our friends and family, as usual. We got a head start on the day with hubby cooking up a turkey, and Jasmine and I doing the decorations. We expected a lot of folks, so hubby got the biggest turkey he could find. It was 24 pounds of gobble-gobble goodness! I thought it was overdoing it a little, but hubby said even if not all our guests can make it, when you count in folks bringing a plate and everything else, it was just right. Once he got started, things went pretty quick. After popping the turkey into the oven, and a little break, he started in on the stuffing. Hubby used to work in a restaurant, so even though he uses Stove Top, he manages to bring out a great turkey-ness in his stuffing.

After another break and some playtime with Jasmine, he moved on to the mashed potatoes. He did a garlicky potato this year. He roasted vegetables inside the bird for his famous turkey noodle soup again this year. This year hubby made his gravy from scratch. He whipped up about 4 cups of this wonderful turkey gravy.

While this was all going on, I made up 2 pumpkin pies, a bunch of chocolate cupcakes, and 2 trays of lemon bars. Doing this all in a tiny kitchen can be quite tough, especially with hubby’s clumsiness, but we were able to make it work!

Everyone brought something to eat, so it was a nice feast. There was green bean casserole, a vegetable platter, and more. Dinner was a lively and warm time, a time to cherish. Jasmine called this Thanksgiving “Awesome! The best Thanksgiving ever!” Of course, she likes to call things awesome all the time now. But she did like the turkey, and said hubby’s “is really the yummiest.”

After dinner, chatting, and some wonderful times together sharing our holiday together, it was time to call it a night. Everyone parted ways for the evening, and clean up went quickly. Then it was some family time and off to bed. Jasmine was tired from all the excitement, so she bundled off to sleep a little before us.

The next day was shopping time. We went out shopping and did a late lunch/early dinner, and then we headed home for some rest. After doing some playtime, picture editing, and watching some TFC, and since Saturday was an early day, so we went to bed early.

We began our Saturday at 4:30 in the morning. We found out about a special one time only sale, so we got up early and drove to the store. We arrived about 30 minutes before opening, and people were already shopping! Even in Germany, it’s the start of the shopping season! The sale we went for was on flat screen TVs and Blu-Ray players. We got a 40-inch flat screen with built in world wide digital tuner. It’s full HD, so the image is so, so, clear and sharp! You can even see single hairs! We also got a Blu-Ray disk player with full HD output. Watching the Blu-Ray disks was like going from old black and white TV to DVD! It is so amazing!!!! Jasmine was the first to commandeer the TV. She watched Tinkerbell, Up, and Ice Age 3 and just didn’t want to stop.

Sunday was a day for us to rest. A couple friends came over to chat and we had pizza for dinner, while their daughter played with Jasmine. Everyone had a great time! We spent the rest of Sunday relaxing from our big weekend and enjoying our family time. We talked about what a wonderful Thanksgiving day we had, and how great the weekend was.

Monday, it was back to normal, except I had a baby shower for my friend, Josie. All the girls got together and had some yummy food, and some good times. Josie was happy being with friends and we were happy to share in the joy.

Well, this post was entirely too long! I’ll let you go for now. Remember to check Bavarian Angel for pics.

Wishing you all the love and joy we shared this weekend, and all God’s good will!
Ciao!