An Unconventional Thanksgiving

 

Hello, dear friends.  I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Ours was made up of scrumptious food and plenty of laughs. The Mister and I agreed that this was our best Thanksgiving ever. 

For being fairly conservative folks, we do have a wild side.  And it is unleashed on Thanksgiving Day.  For thirty-one years of marital bliss, we have never had turkey for Thanksgiving dinner at home.  When the girls were little, we told them that they could choose the menu.  The key to this was they had to agree on the meal.  It was usually the agreeing part that caused the most problems.

As the girls grew older and their taste buds matured, the Mister would whip up one fabulous meal after another each year.  None of us missed the turkey and the fixings.

A few weeks before this Thanksgiving, our #1 called and gave us the wonderful news that she and her hubby were coming to our house for Thanksgiving.  I told her that I would invite Adorable Jonathon's family to celebrate the holiday with us as well.  We were delighted when they accepted.  

I immediately ordered these darling plates from Pottery Barn.  

I was lucky to get them because they sold out quickly afterward.

If we were going to be hosting Christmas here, I had my eye on this set.

Is it a shock to you that all of my tablecloths are blue and white?  I scrambled to find a tablecloth online.  I scored this one on of all places, one of my favorite stores, Tuckernuck.  I love their clothes so much I never looked at the home and entertaining section.

I bought those charger plates about 15 years ago in Homegoods.  

I also have them in gold.

Thanksgiving morning, Miss Millie knew something was up.

Btw... there's a reason for that leash.

The minute the Mister heard that company was coming, he wrote the menu.

I was ecstatic when I saw the lamb chops.

They are my favorite!

In homage to Adorable Jonathon's Dad, who hails from Canada, the Mister made these cookies.

I asked the Mister why he was using the torch on the bark, and he told me that it makes it look shiny.

The Mister used his trusty sous vide.

He tells me that he loves using it because it is impossible to overcook or undercook meat.

I'm a big fan of it because there is minimal cleanup, and the meat tastes like buttah.

Btw... the Mister keeps boxes of this salt on hand for seasoning.

After seasoning the lamb, he then seals the chops with the Vacuum sealer.

The Mister then places the meat in this cooking container.

He also used it for the potatoes, which were sinfully delicious.

It might have been the pound of butter and heavy cream that did the trick.

I'm going to be paying for those sins for weeks to come.

My #2 catching up with Miss Millie.

Meanwhile, Chow is exhausted from playing with her.

 The Mister loves to use these bamboo toothpicks.

Mrs. Adorable takes center stage with her twins.

Can you guess which one is Jonathon and which one is Adorable Michael?

One happy Mama.

Another happy Mama.

Chowdah making himself at home with the Adorables.

Hmmm... that torch is coming in handy this holiday.

And the the pièce de résistance!!

We are so lucky to have Jonathon's wonderful family a part of ours.

The rest of the time was spent on puppy snuggles.

Beginning the first of many 30th birthday celebrations.

Cue the screeching brakes...

It was at this point that my family informed me that they were pictured out and would not pose for any more photos.

My #1 brought her mic so we had our first annual fajita/karaoke night.  

Our last lunch before our little chickadees flew back to NYC and drove home to Dallas.

This Thanksgiving will live in my heart forever!

Are you looking for more gift inspo?

You can find it here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Until next time...

Etsy

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