Our Thanksgiving

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house again this year, and it was a really nice and relaxing day.  My parents helped us out tremendously by watching the boys at their house from Tuesday afternoon through Thursday morning, which meant that Ryan and I could prepare everything with undivided attention, and our little guys got to spend some quality time with their grandparents.

Just in case you aren’t sick of all the food yet, here are a few pictures from our holiday.

(Simple Thanksgiving table.)

I always serve buffet-style and our guests are scattered throughout the house, so I set a simple table in the dining room for anyone who wanted to sit there.  I found these pretty placemats from West Elm and ordered enough for everyone to use.  They’ll work great through the holidays, and best of all, they are washable.

(Thanksgiving side dishes.)

Ryan smoked a brisket and his mom brought some turkey breasts, so I fixed all the side dishes.  I know it’s controversial, but I like to prepare most of my dishes the day before and reheat them Thanksgiving morning.  This year, since I had more time and no little boys running through the kitchen, I was able to cook more on Thanksgiving morning, and everything turned out great.

(Jalapeño bullets!)

Ryan also made one of my favorite party foods, jalapeño bullets!  They are definitely a labor of love, since every pepper must be cut, de-seeded, soaked in water to reduce the heat, stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped in bacon, and then grilled.  But they are absolutely delicious and not really that hot to eat.

(We had four different pies!)

Ryan’s mom always bakes cherry, pecan, and pumpkin pies, and my sister made a delicious, gluten-free apple pie this year, too.  I added some banana pudding to go with all the brisket, and we are still eating our way through the desserts.

It was such a relaxing weekend, and we also finished our Christmas decorating, too, which I’ll show you this week.  The rush is on for our family, since the boys have two weeks of school left, their Christmas program and class parties, and James’ fifth birthday is right after that.  December is our busiest time of year, and I’m trying to maintain some sense of calm this year.

How was your Thanksgiving?