Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays…second only to Christmas. Maybe the only reason it is my second is because it officially kicks off the Christmas season for our family!?! Thanksgiving is a special holiday for us, because it is ours. We celebrate at our house. We are those  people that spent our holidays running around to make appearances at up to six different homes. That is crazy!!(and exhausting!) That craziness makes us even more grateful to spend the holiday in our own home!

You might think that since it is just us and we stay home that I skimp out on tradition– heck no! If you know me, then you know I love to go all out. If I would add little things to make it extra special for others, then why wouldn’t I put the same effort in for my own family!

A few weeks ago when I was still trying to establish our set menu, I made the mistake of sending Otis an email with a list of side options asking him to help me narrow things down. He responded by asking me to just make it all! Haha! I told him that I would, but I was not cooking after that for at least one week– not because I wouldn’t feel like cooking, but because I didn’t want all that food wasted!

So, we ended up with the turkey, an appetizer dip, nine sides, and two desserts! Wowzers!

Our actual thanksgiving day was just the way it always is– pretty leisurely! Otis wakes up and goes to buy me a newspaper so that I can check out all of those Black Friday ads! We watch the Macy’s thanksgiving day parade as a family and then we eat around 12:30.  After that, the kids play, Otis watched football and I nap (since I have to go to work that night).

I can’t help but think of all the movies and scenarios that show the crazy and stressed out women bustling around the kitchen trying to get the food prep done and not being able to enjoy the day. I did get off the couch during commercials to put things in the oven or switch out the casseroles. For the most part, we were set because of my prep work the day before.

We had an absolutely wonderful day! My brother came over and celebrated with us.

When planning for my table, I started out going for a navy and gold theme. I kept eyeing gold silverware. I compared prices on amazon, target, and walmart. I settled with using what I already had….but the reason was purely selfish. I knew that the more money that was spent on our thanksgiving day was less that I could spend shopping on black Friday! 🙂  I think it turned out fine with our usual everyday silverware, but as a sidenote I have asked Otis to buy me a set of the gold silverware for Christmas so that I can have it for future occasions!!

And this guy was tuckered out before we even sat down to eat! I guess it was all of the excitement and aromas that got to him!!

(and yes, this is how he sleeps!)