thanksgiving - collard style

I made two of my first pumpkin pies ever (Mom, are you proud?) and a giant green salad Thanksgiving day and I felt like I spent the entire day cooking.
What am I going to do when it's my turn to host Thanksgiving?? Big. Baby.
Bob and I also concocted the idea to make a little family Thanksgiving photo booth for some evening entertainment.
And you know what I loved most about it? Robert made pretty much all of the props besides the Native American headband.
My man is crafty...and he likes it! (And he's good at it!!)

We had dinner at Bob's parent's house with about half of the Collard clan.
Even with just half of us there the house was brimming.
Bob and I forced everyone to take part in the photo booth and said we would take prisoners if people didn't participate. Whether they liked it or not, everyone kindly humored us.
Bless their hearts.

To be honest, I felt a little gypped because I didn't stuff myself to exhaustion this year.
The food was incredible, and yet for some reason I didn't even go back for seconds.
I guess I felt better in the end, but let me tell you, the real heartache came the next day when all we had was pumpkin pie and salad leftovers.
I wanted turkey and stuffing.
Maybe that will be enough incentive next year to try cooking the feast myself.

After dinner and a few rounds of Canasta Bob, the Minster and I headed over to my friend Laurel's house to see she and her sis, Ellie, who were home from school, and to meet Laurel's boyfriend from England.
Laurel is one of my best friends. She's lived either in another state or country for the last 8 years and somehow every time she and her boyfriend are in town we are conveniently out of town.
She has been dating Taylor 3 years (3 years!) and I am just now meeting him.
Well, he is perfectly charming and funny, just as I suspected he would be.
He opens his own restaurant in England in February and Bob and I have set our sights on dining there in the somewhat near future...when Bob is finally out of school.
And guess what else? Taylor has never held a baby before. Absurd!
Minnie's desire for independence didn't allow him much baby holding time, but it was the first, nonetheless.
The chap was a natural, although you should have seen how terrified he was when Laurel plopped Min on his lap.
Nothing's funnier than people scared of babies.
How good it was to see all of them!

I can't believe Thanksgiving has now come and gone.
It's a bit sad, however I must admit, I'm not sure I've ever been this excited for Christmas.
With Thanksgiving over it means Christmas is that much closer...which means I get to see my family in less than a month!
My dad and sister both get to meet Minnie for the first time and I get to hug them all I want for 10 days straight in Guam.
Dream. Come. True.