The Days For Which We Give Thanks

And just like that the holiday season is upon us.  Even though I'm at a loss for where the entirety of this year has gone, I'm ok with it.  I love the holidays and their mass quantities of food, family and friends. 

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.  I spent the past 4 days in Bethlehem eating more than I normally do in a week and hanging out with many of my favorite people.  There was a lot going on and I was having so much fun that I kinda missed the boat on taking pictures most of the time.  But here's a few and a little play-by-play of my holiday.

Wednesday:

I had to work so we watched the snow come down and made some turkey crafts!

 

 

 

Thursday:

 

I set off in the morning for PA.  Apparently, half of the country had the same idea since it snowed Wednesday, so it took me quite awhile to get home.  Thankfully I made it just  in time for dinner!  There was more snow in Pennsylvania than in Maryland, which made it feel more like Christmas than Thanksgiving but it was quite pretty.

 



We had 22 people at our Thanksgiving table this year!  Yippee!  It was loud and fun and there was SO MUCH FOOD.  Perfection.  I didn't take a picture of my food, but I'm pretty sure you've seen approximately 72 pictures of people's Thanksgiving plates at this point and they all contain THE EXACT SAME THING.  The only things that are a bit different are the Italian meat stuffing we eat and the cardoni (which is fried artichoke stalk - YUM!).  Oh and the palate cleanser my aunt gives us after the meal, which is just lemon sorbet!

One of our tables

All of my cousins were in town this year.  One of them even drove 16 hours from Florida!  Ironically, both of my sisters were missing this year.  My sister from ATL couldn't travel with the new baby, and my youngest sister usually spends the day with her husband's family in Jersey.

My favorite moment of the day happened just before we ate.  We went around the table and each person took a turn stating something for which they were thankful.  On their turn, my parents announced they were expecting a new grandchild and my cousin looked right at me with wide eyes and a shocked expression and said "Jill?!?!?!".  Hellooooooooooooooo not currently with child.  Just setting the record straight here.

Friday:

After sleeping off the food coma from the day before, I went out for a 4 mile run.  I am not a Black Friday shopper so there was none of that happening.  I've never succumbed to the hysteria and I don't plan to anytime soon!  Later some of my family members met up at our favorite pizza shop for dinner (Martellucci's is the best, if you're ever in Bethlehem!) and I also picked up Vegan Treats on the way home. 

Saturday:

We had the long-awaited surprise party for my grandmother's 90th birthday!  It's actually amazing that no one in my large, loud, nosy, giant family let the secret slip.  That never happens.  News travels fast and nothing, nothing is ever a secret for very long.  So she was REALLY surprised :)  I only snapped a few pics:

 

My mom and her sisters

 

The guest of honor!

 

And then on Saturday night I got to see 3 of my very best and favorite friends ever!  We went out for tapas downtown.  Main St in Bethlehem is absolutely beautiful at night during the Christmas season.  Lights and trees everywhere. 

Oh the food was good too :)  I had some hummus, olives, charcuterie and shrimp.  Oh and some cocktails.  Once again I didn't really take many pics of the food but I did snap a fuzzy, tipsy pic of downtown on the way out, so there you go!

Sunday:

I went out for a quick 5K and then had lunch with my parents, before getting back on the road and battling traffic once again in the opposite direction down to Baltimore.



And there you go.  Food, family, food, friends, and some more food! 

I hope your days were just as lovely.

Happy December 1st.  There is less than a month until Christmas.  Where on earth did this year go?!?!



Did you travel for Thanksgiving?

What was your favorite part of the holiday?

Approximately how many pics of Thanksgiving food were in your feed this weekend?!?!