Thanksgiving

Another meme! Lawyerish made this one up Wendesday and, while it is a meme, it's basically what I was going to write anyway (summary of Thanksgiving).


1. Are you celebrating Thanksgiving at home or elsewhere this year? With whom will you spend Thanksgiving Day?


This was our third year of hosting both sides of the family at our house for Thanksgiving Day. We got so sick of traveling to both sides for every holiday (Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas...maybe something else?) that after we bought a house, we convinced everyone to come for Thanksgiving so we wouldn't have to travel. We just do immediate families (our parents and siblings), so its not too huge. I love having one holiday a year that's both sides combined!


2. What do you have for breakfast on Thanksgiving?


Our normal breakfast or whatever we can scrounge up. This year I never got around to eating until people started showing up with the appetizers (around noon). I was starving.


3. Do you go to a Thanksgiving parade or watch one on TV?


My mom loves the parade and it was always on in our house growing up. I don't really care either way. This year we DVRed it and watched it in the evening after everyone left. The ability to fast forward makes the parade much less boring.

4. Do you serve appetizers, lunch, or snacks during the day (i.e., for the men to eat while they lounge around and watch football)?


We have appetizers around 11:30 or noon and lunch at 1:00 or 1:30. Most people obviously go light on the appetizers to save room for lunch, but not me. The appetizers, especially my aunt's corn/jalepeno/cheese dip are my favorite part of the day so I eat as much as I can.


5. What do you wear on Thanksgiving?


We've always been a jeans/nice sweater kind of family for holidays - including Christmas. (We dress up for the Christmas eve service at church, but for Christmas day we wear jeans/sweaters.)

6. What's your Thanksgiving table like -- do you use special plates/silver/glasses, etc? Do you have a centerpiece? A color scheme? Candles?


We generally use our wedding china when we host, but last year my mom bought a bunch of paper plates and cups on clearance after Thanksgiving since we knew we'd have a tiny baby this year. It was nice to not have to wash dishes, but I do prefer using the china. We use tablecloths, cloth napkins (though this year we had paper napkins that went with the plates), and tea lights in the candle holders we decorated with at our wedding. This year, my mother-in-law picked up some flowers when she ran to the store to get the cool-whip we'd forgotten (oops).


7. Do you serve buffet-style or family-style? What do you have to drink?


Buffet-style. We have long-ish counters in the kitchen and they get covered with food. There's a designated appetizer counter, lunch counter (which extends on to the stove), and dessert counter.

8. Once you're at the table, do you say grace or a toast or does everyone go around and say what they're thankful for?


We say a prayer before heading to the buffet line.


9. Do you have dessert right after the main meal or later on?


After dinner, we usually sit around for awhile, then clean up dinner. Washing all the dishes usually makes us hungry enough to start on the pie. After we finish dessert people usually take off, which kind of bums me out. They all just...leave! This year, my sister presided over the leftover-putting-away while I fed the baby, so I didn't get a chance to force people to pack leftovers to take. Some people took pie, but other than that they left everything. We probably have enough food to host another Thanksgiving. On the one hand, SCORE. On the other...that's a lot of food. (But I'm on it.)


10. What do you do with your leftovers?


Thanksgiving bowls. Stuffing, mashed potatos, corn, and turkey all mixed together. LOVE. I get pretty bummed out when we start running out of items. Mashed potatos/corn/turkey just isn't the same. (I actually buy extra boxes of stuffing because that's my favorite part so I don't want to run out of it first.)