With all of the holiday cheer in the air it is hard to sit down and get all of my thoughts out. I thought I’d give a recap over the past few weeks to give an idea of just how crazy life has been.

Let’s start with Thanksgiving. This has always been one of my favorite holidays to spend the day full of family and love. I don’t get to see my family very often and so I look forward to the days that bring us all together.

To begin with, Jeff and I headed to my grandma’s apartment for the breakfast festivities.  We’ve always met in the morning in order to give time for lots of other meals throughout the rest of the day. It’s a pot-luck sort of deal and so we brought a Blueberry Buttermilk Breakfast Cake to devour over the course of a couple hours. The most popular is always the handmade cinnamon rolls my uncle brings every year. My dad was so anxious to get his hands on one, he texted my uncle “where are the cinnamon rolls?!” vs “where are you?”. It was pretty funny and my uncle took it in stride.  Growing up we always performed for my grandma as well. I come from a very talented family whether my cousins sing, play an instrument, or act.  We haven’t done this in a few years though. Another family tradition is to draw names for Christmas presents. There are so many of us (my dad has 5 siblings and so I have around 20 cousins) that we do a Secret Santa gift exchange. It’s always funny to see what people put on their lists. Some might go over the top and add things like a trip to Europe or a new car while others sabatoge lists by adding My Little Pony and Barbie dolls (we’re all pretty much adults).  All-in-all it’s a good time with lots of laughs.

Secondly, we headed to my Great Aunt’s house for the lunch ordeal. I think she had my favorite food of the entire day. It was a gorgeous day for a bit of a drive and we made pretty good time getting there. She had all of the traditional Thanksgiving foods and we were pretty stuffed by the end of the meal. I passed up on the pumpkin pie as I was looking forward to meal three at Jeff’s parents. Although this party wasn’t as crazy as the first, it was still pretty loud. Everyone was curious about my new career choice and wanted to hear all about school. I’m currently working towards becoming certified as an Elementary teacher. I’m pretty fired up about it and loved sharing my excitement with my family. The Sophie pup came along and loved getting to play with so many different people!

Finally, we headed back to Seattle for the final meal of the day. This was definitely the most relaxed of all of the parties. Jeff’s mom decorated beautifully and I’m always jealous of her cooking talents. She seems to make everything taste amazing. I never knew how gravy was made before and I was able to watch the entire process! She is so sweet…she made Puyallup fair scones as our rolls for the evening because she knows how much I love them.  There were candles everywhere as well as beautiful Thanksgiving decorations. There’s something so magical about eating by candle light. It was amazing having a relaxed night with loved ones and really rounded out Thanksgiving perfectly.

Although I tried to pace myself throughout the day, I still ate exactly what I wanted to. I saved room for a little bit of everything. Overall, I was really pleased with myself as I normally would have binged on the sweetest of items. Still lost 2 pounds during Thanksgiving week!