my "first" Thanksiving

(for some reason I couldn't quite get the pictures where
I wanted them to be, so instead its quite the collage!)

I'm so glad to let you know, that it was a success. My real Thanksgiving dinner prepared apartment style in our little kitchen with sometimes three people crammed in at once! I was amazed that after eating at 2:00pm, and starting to clean up about 2:45 or 3:00pm, it was all finished by 3:45pm! Now we have a refrigerator fully stocked with delicious leftovers, which we'll love to enjoy in the upcoming days.
For our family's entertainment we've had the following outings thus far:
~Matt and Jacob went to the Fraizer International History Museum
~Mom and I went to the malls to find a few more Christmas gifts for my dear husband
~we all went to Bernheim Forest, a enjoyed the amazing holly trees (I didn't have my camera with me unfortunately)
~we've upgraded our technology to the new digital TV converter box (the one public television is talking about)... let me tell you, we can see very clearly now, I'll know how much the antiques are worth when we watch Antiques Roadshow now (before I couldn't read the prices due to the "snow" on the screen), and we also purchased a new DVD/VCR combo as our old one made funny sounds when we watched anything
~we've enjoyed watching "Bella", the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, and the dog show which followed... they just finished "Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving" and we may watch Luther tonight
Here are some pictures of the feast...

my mom's deviled eggs and some great rolls

the giant 14 lb turkey, before and after carving

the whole spread, above and to the left... (including: cranberry sauce from a can, sweet potato casserole frozen, Paula Deen's green bean casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cottage cheese, deviled eggs, and rolls)


also something I loved as a little girl, my mom cross-stitched the towel to go into the bread dish, it says, "Give us this day our daily bread..."

Lastly, my mom brought our anniversary present to us early...
I cross stitched this sampler while we were engaged, and we're just now finally able to hang it, since she kindly had it framed.