The Perfect Thanksgiving

Can I please just tell you how much I love Thanksgiving? 

I mean, I'm not talking, "Oh, I love Thanksgiving like I love puppies or like watching a good movie." That's not real love. That's kid stuff. My love for Thanksgiving is beyond comfort or lust - it's a straight-up romantic, I want to have Thanksgiving's babies, head-over-hills, totally committed kind of love. And that's why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday... and this year's did NOT disappoint.

This year I planned to drive to sunny Southern California with my little brother and his fiance (Oh yes, have I mentioned that my little brother is getting married? In one month? Because he is) for Thanksgiving. Well, a week or two before we left, I found out that the guy I'm currently seeing didn't have plans for Thanksgiving, so I invited him along for the fun... and he came! It was a road trip party, basically.

We got to my parent's house late Tuesday night, visited, and then went to bed. Wednesday we woke up, lounged a little, and then commenced a morning of pie-baking. Now, in my family, we believe in tradition. And tradition says that the pies must be home made. And that the pies must be plentiful. So, we made apple pie, cherry pie, 2 pumpkin pies, and then on Thanksgiving, another apple pie and a pecan pie showed up. That's 6 whole pies for 10 adults. Needless to say, I had pie for breakfast AND dessert almost every single day. And I'm not even upset about it. Oh, and don't worry, we aren't such sticklers for tradition that we never let in anything new. This year, mom decided to introduce the fruit pizza to the dessert menu:

Now, usually at my house, things get a little crazy on Thanksgiving and Christmas days (AKA, big meal days). Everything has to be timed just perfectly so all the food comes out hot at the same time and the oven schedule must be stuck to...precisely. This usually results in increased levels of stress, too many cooks in the kitchen, and pure exhaustion at the end of the day. But this year, well... this year was beautiful. It was like the sun came up, the birds started singing, the light shone through the trees, and somewhere in the sky the stars had aligned to make our Thanksgiving beautiful. And it was. And the food was glorious. So glorious. And the company was even better.

Cooks in the Kitchen. 

The Mom.

The 77 degree, most perfect November weather.

The beautiful Thanksgiving Table.

The sweet little cousin.

The only thing(s) missing from Thanksgiving this year, were my step-brothers and their families and my Grandmother, who passed away this July. She always loved Thanksgiving and she would have really enjoyed this one. And, now that I think of it, the deviled eggs! Somehow we missed the deviled eggs. (A dirty, rotten shame that I'm going to try not to dwell on right now.)

The rest of the week included lots of reading, enjoying the perfect weather, seeing Breaking Dawn part deux with my mom, sister, and soon-to-be sister-in-law (and laughing our heads off at the creepy CGI baby and the rolling vampire heads), eating real, can't-get-that-in-UT Mexican food, showing the guy around the hometown that I love so much (the wineries, the Old Town shops lit up at night, Christmas shopping at the Promenade), and playing dominoes with my family.

Oh, and don't forget putting up the Christmas tree. 

All-in-all, the trip was perfect and I have never been more sad to see my holiday time off end.

Group picture, Sunday morning after church.

Lucky for him, my family was on excellent behavior. :-)

And this is where I should probably list all of the things that I am grateful for this year, but that would take too long, so I'll spare you. Just know that the gratitude is there.