Thanksgiving

We love Thanksgiving!   This was one of the most fun ever, for many reasons.  One was that the girls were excited, too, and were in the fray with us all day (mostly happily).

We woke early and started shaping the roll dough we made up yesterday.  Elena and Clara are often up "helping" cook, but today they REALLY helped!  They learned how to make crescent rolls, and once they figured out the technique, they did all four dozen with Christina.  She only had to re-roll a few of them.

They would repeat the directions: "Gently assage (massage) the dough, then roll tightly!" 

Steve took Elena and Clara to get doughnuts and some last minute grocery supplies, while Christina cleaned and cooked.  Then we all reconvened to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which the girls were finally old enough to really enjoy. 

Steve took Clara to go pick up Nana and G-Daddy at the airport, and Elena stayed to help Christina and Caryn cook.

C

Helping Caryn pick out the chocolate chips to melt so that we could dip the cream puffs in them.

Showing Christina how many chocolate chips she should get to eat before dinner:

Clara, Nana, and Caryn got right down to cooking as soon as the airport run was done.  Clara was apparently a perfect green bean snapper!

At the sandwich station for our mid-morning snack to hold us over, Clara wanted to make everyone a "sammich."

Our place settings this year - Elena and Clara helped Christina sew up new napkins for our meal, and we made these napkin ring/name tags, too.

The real place-setting expert in this house is Steve, though - he always makes sure all the silverware is facing the right way.

How many cooks can you fit in a few square feet of space??

Making the gravy (accidentally out of the good Chardonnay instead of the cooking Chardonnay - but it tasted good!).

The scene outside (it never stopped snowing today, but it was the sort of beautiful, soft snowfall that makes everything look pretty).

And the scene inside - here's the kids table (two grandmas in attendance both brought gifts for all the kids to play with at their table).

...and the adults.

It was a great, nearly stress-free day.  And at the end of it, the girls snuggled up to G-Daddy to watch Shaun the Sheep (this must have been a "scary" part!) and then headed straight to bed.  Thankful, thankful, thankful.