Oh-Bla-Di

One of the things I love about the way we do holidays around here is that the BIG ones happen for us in the fall.  By the end of November, when we’ve packed up the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers, we slide into the holiday season with fewer commitments and more breathing room in our lives.  But, to get to that place of serenity, we have to wade all the way through November – through Noah’s birthday in August, Ava’s in November, Thanksgiving, and our anniversary.  It’s busy, but I always find myself crashing on the couch after every party thinking, “That was so worth it.”  This year, I found myself on the couch after Thanksgiving saying, “That was absolutely our best one yet.”

We were thrilled to have company for Pie Day/Enchilada Night on Wednesday and a big group of friends and family join us for dinner on Thursday.  In order to make it through both events, we needed a hero and a little organization – enter Matt & sticky notes.

Dinner for 20 was served only about 30 minutes late, which ended up being perfect for our guests and the turkey cooking.

We ended up roasting one turkey and frying two.  On Wednesday, when Matt and I were talking about it, I thought maybe the 60-some pounds of turkey we were planning might be a bit overboard.  He explained that one of the fried turkeys was more of an “appetizer turkey.”  We joked that there is probably nothing more grossly American than that idea.  “Hey, here’s this huge fried bird I’m going to eat for a snack and here’s this other huge cooked bird that I’m going to have for dinner.”  

Anyway, it worked out and we had more than enough food, dishes and chairs to go around when it was time to finally get to the main event of the day.

I love Thanksgiving, and especially Thanksgiving in the military, because it really is a “more the merrier” kind of thing.  With no gifts like other holidays, it’s so easy just to ask others to join you and have a good time.  This was probably our most hodge-podge group of guests so far in Vegas, with folks from Matt’s work, my work, TPS, and Hoffman and Lee Families.  But, the upside to that is that everyone just pitched in and made the day fun.

The kiddos spent nearly 8 hours tearing the playroom to shreds, we got treated to magic tricks from Audrey’s grandpa, and the pie and homebrew supplies both took major hits.

The party broke up at about 10:30pm and by 11:30pm, our house was set completely to rights and Matt and I had our feet up on the coffee table toasting “the best Thanksgiving EVER”!

h/t to Sarah’s dad, Tony Lee, from whose Facebook page I stole several of these photos since I kept forgetting to take pictures all day.