Our Thanksgiving Weekend

Ahhh.  That was a sigh. Not a scream.  Sometimes that's hard to differentiate in the world of words. But yes, a deeply contented sigh.  We had such a lovely Thanksgiving weekend.  Thursday morning started with a family fun run, in which we created our own turkey trot of sorts.  Ran our own 5K around the neighborhood and felt refreshed.  Then I started baking...

The cinnamon sugar pumpkin muffins turned out pretty good! They have more of a donut consistency to them, which I really liked and there's just something festive about freshly baked muffins in the morning.

After breakfast wrapped up, it was onto the main courses!  My turkey was still a little frozen in the morn but after putting it in cold water for a few hours, it was ready to start cooking at 11.  I used Ina Garten's "Perfect Roasted Turkey" recipe for the second time and for the second time, it turned out quite lovely.

My sister and a few friends came over to celebrate Owen's first Thanksgiving with us and we had a great time hanging out, drinking wine, watching O eat his first full meal and, of course, there was some dinner roll juggling. This has become a Thanksgiving tradition whenever our friend John is around!

The next day it was time to deck the halls....! I told you I was as excited as heck to do this!  It was raining here (which is pretty rare!) so we took our time in the morning, listening to carols and watching the rain fall.  Then we headed to Lowe's where we found an awesome tree and excitedly took it home to decorate it!

And of course there had to be freshly baked cookies to eat while gazing at the tree! I've discovered that I really love baking...

Full both on food and love. Hope you all had an equally lovely weekend!  And although it's bittersweet now that my favorite weekend has come to an end, I'll quote a Thanksgiving card that my grandma sent us: "If you count your blessings often, Thanksgiving can be everyday."  Here's to keeping the spirit of gratitude and wonder going!