Thanksgiving Fun

We had an awesome 4 days at home in VA for Thanksgiving. We wish we'd had more time to spend with family and friends but luckily we are going back again in 3 weeks for Christmas :) We were at my house for the actual Thanksgiving Day...My mom had the table set for 2 days in advance - good thing because it was beautiful!





The food table was also festive...



We did lots of cooking (OK my mom did lots of cooking, Meg and I helped a little).





Meg and I took the making gravy 101 course and I still don't think we could swing it alone.



There are lots of good uses for a DUKE cup - right Meg?





My Dad watched...



As Meg and I tried it alone...



Then my mom stepped back in so it'd actually be edible. We weren't the only ones in the kitchen...the dogs wanted in on the gravy action too!



My aunt Sandra brought her famous mashed potatoes.



My uncle Billy brought the ham.



We had a feast! Yum!



Willow was REALLY hoping to get some of the leftovers (and I think she probably helped herself to a little bit when we weren't looking).



Afterwards, Matt was able to sit on the couch and watch football as promised.



My brother's girlfriend Nicole and her sister Ashley came to join in the celebration.





The ipad was a big hit.



Let's not forget Thanksgiving aftermath....

Delicious leftovers.



And the dirty side - the dishes left to clean. EW.



We also took our annual Christmas Card photo but more on that in another post. The day after Thanksgiving my Dad decided to go do some Black Friday shopping at WalMart. He came home with this.



I didn't even know it existed! How crafty! And to think, Matt and I used to pay someone to clean our gutters. Then we spent a little more time with my family before we headed to Matt's house...





Matt's parents go to the beach for Thanksgiving every year and they like to bring something festive and fun every time. This year they brought La'Turkenisha.

They made sure to bring her back to VA so we could see. Isn't she pretty?



Willow hated it.



We made it up to her by taking her up to the golf course, where Matt hit her tennis balls with a golf club.



We also visited their new lake house - Willow liked that as well :)



Finally, we spent some time with friends. Our friend Bo hosts the CVITTT - Central VA Invitational Table Tennis Tournament (I think that's what it stands for). Anyway - the guys love to have an excuse to get together and compete in ping pong in his basement while the girls sit upstairs and drink wine. It's super fun. I'm disappointed because by this point in the weekend my camera battery had died and I had forgotten to take any pictures with friends on Wednesday night when we got together! Please excuse the awful iphone pics.





The bracket. Again - sorry about the picture - it's embarrassing.



The competitors. Wish I had one of Matt (last year's runner-up!) but I was too busy upstairs and he lost out early this year.





OK that's all I can do for now. Willow is begging me to take her outside in the rain on possibly the windiest day of the year. Be back later with more!