Thanksgiving, Part One

This picture comes with a story. Really, this picture wasn't supposed to exist at all. We were supposed to be in North Carolina for Thanksgiving this year. Unfortunately, I was under the mistaken impression (don't ask me why) that Thanksgiving was November 29th. Much to my chagrin, I realized a few weeks ago that Thanksgiving had the audacity to come early this year--on the 22nd. Sooooooo, after calling Northwest and finding out that we could change our tickets to the correct week for the low, low price of $1300, we decided to keep our tickets and go home a week late. Sorry, everyone.

Actually, apart from the inconvenience we've put everyone under (and the blow my repuation has taken in the family), it has turned out just fine. We had some new friends over for Thanksgiving, enjoyed our celebration here, and now we're headed to NC to have a second celebration on Friday.

We had Ole and Anna over, who were unable to make it back to Seattle or Alaska to be with their family, since Ole has a new job and they need the insurance for their baby coming in March. Shannon is a new visitor at our church, but when we realized that he was planning on eating Thanksgiving dinner at Cracker Barrel, we decided he was coming over too. We had a great time of fellowship and conversation. Sometimes the random Thanksgivings turn out really well.

I'm getting better at putting on big dinners in my tiny kitchen, and with Anna's help, it really wasn't a big deal at all. It's just during clean up time that things get hairy, with no room to put anything anywhere (I should have taken a picture of that wreck!).

I decided to make my first foray into the world of Black Friday this year, since money is a little tighter and I wanted to get a good deal on a few Christmas presents. Isaac and Vance had a great time without me, exploring Zack's newfound love of duplos. He's getting pretty good--but I think Vance is really enjoying his opportunity to "help" as well :).

We're headed home to NC today, hooray!