I absolutely cannot believe it’s December 1st already! It certainly doesn’t feel like it outside (although last week it was below freezing). I hope everybody in the (U.S.) blog world had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was pretty fabulous.
Wednesday night my in-laws arrived. We ate some leftover red beans and rice, relaxed, and did some prep work for the next day’s big feast. I baked Angela’s sinless sticky toffee pudding (for the 2nd year), which is always delicious, and threw together Jen’s easy (but amazing) slow-cooker cranberry sauce.
Thursday morning we slept in a little bit and got to work. Mark made his fabulous mashed potatoes while I put together a shredded kale, Brussels sprouts, pomegranate, pistachio, and walnut salad, which I topped with Gena’s simple dressing from this similar salad.
We got ready and arrived at my parents’ (deliciously smelling) house around 3:00 and had an early dinner shortly after. As usual, everything was mouth-watering. I made sure to load up my plate with a bit of everything (except deviled eggs; for whatever reason, I just don’t care for them). In the bowl: cucumber salad and kale/Brussels sprouts/pomegranate salad. On the plate (clockwise): turkey, sweet potato casserole, green beans, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and a sweet potato-stuffed orange.
We laughed and talked and settled into the TV room to watch some football. Dessert (my toffee pudding and my mom’s should-be-famous rum cake) and coffee soon followed before we went back to our house to relax before Christmas Tree Friday!!! 
Black Friday shopping is not and never will be our thing, so we slept late Friday and went to Lowe’s to get our Christmas tree. I think we may have found ours in record timing. Since my dad’s birthday was Saturday and the in-laws were leaving Saturday afternoon, we had my parents over Friday night for gumbo and muffulettas for his birthday dinner. Both were tasty, and we had a great night.
Saturday we said farewell (for a few weeks, anyway) to the in-laws and were probably the only couple in Alabama not watching the Iron Bowl (what an amazing game; we did see some highlights and were listening to the radio when Auburn ran back the missed field goal to win!). We bought a new tree topper and came back home for some leftovers and tree decorating. Looks pretty good!
I hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving (and beginning of Hanukkah, if you celebrate). Have a good week!
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