Thanksgiving Weekend

For the past four years it has been our Thanksgiving tradition to spend the long weekend at the beach. This year was different because my dad and Mary couldn't join us. We thought about staying home and having Thanksgiving in Eugene, but my dad insisted that we go. 

Once we arrived at the beach house and the kids tumbled out of the car into the sunshine, I knew that my dad had been right to send us. We all needed this.

You never know what kind of weather you'll get on the Oregon coast in November. For once, Sawyer's shorts and teeshirt combo was the right choice.

In 37 years I had never once been in charge of the Thanksgiving meal. We've usually done non-traditional fare like pizza or salmon, but last year Mary made cornish game hen and Jack talked about eating the drumstick for weeks afterwards. This year he requested a Thanksgiving dinner "like you see in the movies."

Okay.

So the vegetarian was in charge of cooking a turkey, but as Brent pointed out, with the internet anything is possible. He was right. There was some initial confusion with the neck and the gizzards and the tying of the legs and tucking of the wings, but we managed to pull it off. I am pretty proud of my first turkey, even if I didn't eat any of it...

Confession: we did not actually sit down to Thanksgiving dinner until almost 8:30, but all those hours of turkey roasting led to a pretty rockin' kitchen dance party which I'm hoping we'll incorporate as a new Thanksgiving tradition in the years to come.

Especially since more calories burned dancing before dinner means a bigger piece of pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.

Nick and I have been on this Yoga Meltdown kick which involves us flopping around the living room, toppling over onto each other, and cursing at Jillian Michaels while sweating our asses off.
Sawyer chants half-hearted words of encouragement at us from his vantage point on the couch and occasionally joins us for downward dog. I thought all his enthusiasm for our success was charming until he informed us that he really wants us to get to level two so he can watch Jillian in her blue sports bra.

I am hoping to get myself back into shape before Christmas so I can totally binge on holiday food. Thank you, Jillian Michaels, for making my pigging out dreams a reality. Probably not what you had in mind when you launched your line of yoga videos, but oh well.

One more night of Phase-10, a hot tub under a blanket of stars, growler fills from the Yachats Farm Store, Nick's famous Bloody Marys, frisbee on the beach, sand between our toes, and overindulging the kids so that we can have some quality adult conversation.

This weekend was not exactly what we were expecting, but I guess when life hands you a turkey, you should just go right ahead a make Thanksgiving dinner. Or something like that.

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