thanksgiving 2011

Cindi and I went hiking for a bit this morning. It was perfect weather, an hour hike, and good conversation. I don't know how she was looking so cute so early in the day. It was fun to catch up with her and her busy life. On our way back we noticed some blood on the rocks, not just in one spot but drips for about a hundred yards. Cindi innocently worried that there was an injured animal nearby and hoped it was ok. I was worried we'd see some crime scene tape.You'd think the parks would be kind of empty with everyone home making pumpkin pie, but no. By 8 a.m. every parking spot was taken with dozens of people waiting to park.
The rest of the day was spent in the kitchen. We actually all love to cook together, using every available inch of counter space. And, of course, we had the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on all morning. It's not Thanksgiving without the parade. I wonder if it would be as fun to see it in person? It would be a LOT of time, money, and cold. I think I shall continue to enjoy it on TV. I tried to get some prep work done last night, chopping and dicing, but most of the cooking was done through the morning. Our local boy scout troop cooks our turkey for us (delicious deep pit, slow cooked meat), so at least the oven in not taken up with that task. A friend on facebook today called her "before" picture, the calm before the storm. Pretty True. There is also another blog I read that began today with "If you are checking blogs on Thanksgiving you probably got a really easy assignment for dinner. Be honest, you're in charge of the olives, aren't you?" haha.
We talked through our plans for Christmas. Melanie felt a need to audibly review her Christmas wish list with us all. You can see she has us on the edge of our seats with her reading.The rest of the day was just relaxing. We went for a walk, watched Wall-e, put together a puzzle (or got it started anyway, 1000 pieces is too many pieces for one evening). I have to make a confession to Suzanne. She gave us a really cool puzzle of heart shapes found in nature. It was cool because I collect heart shaped rocks in a bowl on our front porch. Anyway, I lost the unopened puzzle approximately one day after Christmas, but never confessed. She asked me once if we had ever assembled it and I had to make up a lame excuse that we were waiting for the right puzzling mood to strike us. Anyway, I found it tucked away in a really weird place last month so tonight, we enjoyed her puzzle gift from long long ago. This is my very tardy "thank you". Hope everyone had a wonderfully fun and/or relaxing day. Happy Thanksgiving! (And , as I'm watching my girls strap on their running shoes, . . . Happy Black Friday Shopping!)