And The Harps!

Appetizers were out….

Spinach & Artichoke dip from Wendy, crackers, TJ's triple layer hummus, roasted chick peas, grapes, veggies etc...

Brady favorite crab & cheese bites

and pre-dinner entertainment was provided by little miss Mia:

Mia, at two years old, is so smart – she intently watches everything with such great curiosity. A total engineer in the making, she loves cameras, elevators, sewing machines, and watching Uncle John carve the turkey using “the machine!!”.

And finally it was time to FEAST! We all choose our places at the table and took some family pictures to commemorate everyone being together.

Mia loves clapping, so we all did!

Next, the youngest one in the room said Grace. This is apparently a tradition my dad established today. Kevin’s grace was great, but nothing compared to the elaborate multi-part prayer we used to say when my Great Aunt Kathryn was still alive. A Sister of St. Joseph, she always brought directions for a prayer where each person had their instrument…my job was always to say “And The Harps!!” when the script called for it. We still throw a few of those lines in to remember her.

We had our meal buffet style this year since the dining room was so crowded – the spread included ambrosia salad, cranberries, rolls, oyster dressing, regular dressing, turkey, mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, my maple quinoa, green bean casserole, and spinach & cheese casserole:

blogger at work 😉

My plate:

roasted veg, both stuffings, and quinoa + 2 glasses of Chardonnay

I was pretty full going into dinner from all the veggies and chickpeas I ate throughout the day, but managed to go back for seconds of roasted vegetables, a roll, and some crackers.

Sadly my dad had a stomach bug all day, so his plate wasn’t as exciting:

Funny though!

 

siblings

 

 

 

The dessert spread included my mom’s famous apple pie, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, and my aunt’s bourbon pecan pie courtesy of Paula Dean.

I ended up having two small slices of pumpkin pie with some homemade bourbon whipped cream:

SOO delicious. One of the best Thanksgivings in a while thanks to some new dishes from extended family. I’m already so excited for the leftovers of roasted vegetables and my quinoa.  It was so wonderful to sit around the table and listen to my mom and her siblings reminisce about childhood. The five of them haven’t all been together in years.

But soon enough, Mia let us know it was time to wind down with a little fit. Cutting the cheesecake seemed to make it a little better…

She gathered the coats….

and hit the road.

And now we’re watching Elf on TV and I’m sipping on a Flying Dog beer. It was such a perfect holiday, and the weekend is only going to get better due to a visitor and some time off. I hope you all were able to celebrate with your loved ones as well!