Thanksgiving Weekend 2008

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving weekend has already come and gone. I had a fabulous time! All 5 of us kids were home, so it was a full house! Especially with the 4 nephews running in circles. Well, only 3 were running I guess - Matthew is only 8 months so isn't running quite yet! ;) Soon enough, though!

I started off Thanksgiving Day by giving the boys the scarves that I had knit for them. I put a book in with the scarves since boys usually don't get too excited about apparel!

As usual, there was quite a spread. Mom made the main dishes like Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, etc, and everyone else helped out with the sides. Even me. This was the first year I brought something! I tried a new recipe - Brussel Sprouts! I had never made Brussel Sprouts before, but they turned out really well. Unfortunately I don't have any photos to share. This was a dish that I had to put together during the last 20 minutes before we sat down to eat... and let's just say the kitchen is pretty much Grand Central Station at that point! If I would have pulled out a camera to take pictures during the cooking process, I probably would have gotten some dirty looks (rightly so!). I did get some pictures of some of the food (there was more but I had to quick snap these pics before the gang started to dish up!) Sorry, no pictures of the bird, but trust me - it was fabulous!!!

The 4 boys all played well together. James & Andrew are so close in age, so they are the best of buds. They lucked out & got their own little kids table, which is a small table that was made by my Grandpa McDougall. It was probably made 20+ years ago - I bet he'd be happy to know that it's still being put to use!

Matthew & Kolin are pretty close in age and get along great as well.

I think there were about 25 of us in total! That is alot of people, but not even close to our record of about 38! We always celebrate Thanksgiving with the McDougalls, and when they are all there, it's quite a large, lively bunch!! 2 of my uncles were able to join us - it was great to see them.

My little sister & her fiance, Ryan, flew in from Tucson for the weekend; Ryan's mom, step dad, step brother, and his sister & her husband and son, were able to join us. It was great getting to meet them before the wedding next summer! Ryan's sister could seriously be Abby's twin. They have the same personality!! I didn't get any pictures of them as I didn't want them to feel like they were in the presence of paparazzi! Ryan's family fit in so well with ours; they even took part in the annual Football game and beat the McDougall/Dotzenrod team!!

We had lots of pies to choose from - Pumpkin, Chocolate, Pecan, and Sweet Potato. Yum. Sorry, no pics of this either. I was too busy playing with my adorable nephew Matthew! He has the most beautiful blue eyes!

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Thanksgiving Day came & went. The rest of the weekend was full of lots of family time. On Saturday, Mom, Dad, Chad, Emily, Kolin, and I headed to Wahpeton since Santa was making an appearance. We weren't sure what Kolin would think of him...

He was pretty spooked! When Emily tried to put Kolin in Santa's lap, he started to say 'All done! All done!' It was pretty funny to watch. Hopefully he'll be a little less scared next year!

It was pretty cold outside (windy and in the 20's) but we decided to take a sleigh ride! (dad was too cold to smile, I guess!!)

Surprisingly, Kolin was not afraid of the horses. He actually gave one a kiss! You'd think a large horse would be scarier than Santa but I guess not!



After the sleigh ride, we headed to the Wilkin to warm up with some drinks and appetizers. Kolin perked right up as soon as he saw our waitress & became quite the flirt! It's funny how early boys learn how to flirt w/ the ladies! He was all smiles the whole time we were there!

We ended the evening back at mom & dad's with a dinner of leftovers, followed by a dessert that I made - dark chocolate mousse. My aunt Barb gave me the recipe & it turned out great! The mousse recipe called for Brandy, and I had way more than I needed, so we decided to make some Brandy Alexanders! Yum!

All in all, the weekend was wonderful. I barely left the house, which was my goal! It was nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of the Minneapolis/St Paul area. The weekend was full of lots of laughs, lots of calories, and lots of good times. Our family probably won't all be together again until Abby's wedding next August. Given how fast 2008 has gone, 8-8-09 will be here in the blink of an eye!

I hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving weekend!!