This year was pretty small for us – only 5, but it was really nice, and really low key. I ordered our turkey about a month ahead of time which was good, it’s already hard enough to find a small-ish turkey, and this year. there was apparently a shortage!

Here’s the link to NBS Smokehouse where we ordered our turkey from https://www.nbsmokehouse.com/Home__

The turkey was about 8lbs and already smoked. It only took about 2 hours to reheat it since it was a fairly small bird. I think I’ll do the same in the future, at least I’ll plan to if we have a small group again.

Of course before everyone arriving, I stocked up on fall scented candles…and made a few unscented ones. I wish I would have written down the names of the scents, it’s impressive how creative people can be with just a few key words like “pumpkin” “autumn” “fall” and “spice”.

Since there were only 5 of us, we decided to keep dessert small and just had two pies: pumpkin & mincemeat. The pumpkin we bought, but the mincemeat, as always, was homemade.

After the Thanksgiving meal we lounged around/napped/cleaned a bit while we let our food settle, then we headed to The Post for a glass (or two) of wine. It was the perfect way to end the day, also Dad got the bill. Thanks, Dad! 😜

Friday was really low key also, we heated up the pool for a swim, and got the fire pit going to warm up after getting out of the pool!

I don’t think anyone was hungry for breakfast but we had a bit of pumpkin bread anyway, and lunch was sandwiches with leftover turkey.

Friday Night Dinner – honey dijon chicken thighs with leftover sides from Thanksgiving: green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and dressing. Simple and yummy. I’ll share the recipe for the chicken thighs soon, it deserves its own post!

On Saturday at church services, our friend Robbie spoke about being thankful during difficult times. The point that stood out to me the most was being thankful in all circumstances not because of circumstances. It’s easy to give thanks when life is peachy, but takes real effort to practice gratitude when things are tough.

We went out to eat Saturday night, I don’t remember the food so much, but we had a great time with friends and a LOT of laughter.

The last two years have been trying for everyone, but even so, there are still many things to give thanks for. This year, I was thankful my parents and sister were able & healthy to travel to Houston; it seems like such a small thing, but I’m grateful that they were able to come and be here with us. I’ll just leave you with this final screenshot…