Thankful on Thanksgiving

It is the day after Thanksgiving, time to start putting away the Thanksgiving decorations

and start putting up our Christmas decorations, but I just want to sit here and sip on my pumpkin spice brûlee tea (my new favorite this season) and contemplate all that I'm thankful for. I don't want Thanksgiving to be over yet. It's my favorite holiday and it goes by so fast because the Christmas season starts so early. I guess I can't complain since I did put up the Christmas tree last week.

This was the first Thanksgiving hosting in our Seattle home since we moved back last year and it was nearly perfect. I say nearly because Nick, Sachiyo and Hana were missing but they will be coming in a few days from Japan. This year, I made a fall favorite sangria, doubling the recipe for our crowd.

We brined the turkey again this year

so it turned out incredibly tender and full of flavor.

Bruce cooked it on the traeger so it had a little smokey flavor along with the fall-off-the-bone tenderness to it.

Unfortunately, it was pouring down rain all day, plus windy and stormy this Thanksgiving, so no standing around the barbecue outside sipping our Sangria. But the rain did not stop my brother from taking photos out on the deck of the view.

Then he started taking individual portraits of everybody and we all took our turn in front of the camera.

There was lots of game-playing going on this year - monopoly

and backgammon.

The appetizers to go along with the sangria were salmon dip and the hot-out-of-the-oven artichoke and spinach dip, along with some cheeses, olives, and crackers,

The Thanksgiving dinner was the best, as always, with all of our usual fixings; turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, Hernon green gelatin salad, brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, fruit salad, rolls

and dessert of pumpkin pie cheesecake and pecan pies. This year was a truly wonderful celebration of thanks.

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