Happy Sunday! I’m currently listening to Classical Christmas on Spotify and I’m getting really excited to go pick out our tree later this evening.
Before we go fully into Christmas mode, I wanted to share a few scenes from our Thanksgiving. I always love to get a glimpse of everyone’s family traditions and menu spreads so here’s a look at what our day looked like. (You can check out Thanksgiving Eve and morning in this post if you missed it.)
Thanksgiving was planned as a dinner around 5 p.m. instead of a lunch so we had this spread of appetizers to snack on throughout the afternoon. I personally prefer to do a later Thanksgiving instead of eating in the middle of the day so I loved the flow of our day.
I put together my brussels sprout and kale salad mid-afternoon. I think it tastes better after it sits for a while.
There was also a bottle of bubbly popped while we were cooking.
Tanner’s mom and step-father have the sweetest dogs, a doberman and a dachshund. They have nearly identical markings but around and 85 pound difference in size!
We missed our girls but had plenty of opportunities for dog cuddling with these two.
We all headed outside for a quick family photo before the sun set.
Although this was a very bittersweet holiday for me, I was grateful to spend it with Tanner’s family and I’m so lucky that they are so incredibly warm, loving and welcoming. Tanner and I will spend Christmas with my family this year.
We sat down to eat around 6 p.m. Tanner’s mom did a beautiful job on the table. It was so fall-themed and festive.
Here’s a side view of my plate. Tanner’s mom cooked a bone-in pork loin that was super delicious along with a turkey breast. I had a little of both.
Overhead iPhone view…meats plus kale salad, stuffing, cauliflower gratin and sweet potatoes. Missing from this shot is gravy and cranberry sauce. Also missing is the second helping of stuffing, sweet potatoes, cauliflower and cranberries that made it onto my plate. 🙂
I made our desserts for the evening. The pie up front is a chocolate pecan chess pie from Southern Living. I wouldn’t do a thing to change this recipe. Definitely check it out! The pie in back is a sweet potato pie from the Food Network. It was also really good but I’ll be playing around with it a bit to make it dairy-free and switching out the crust and I hope to share the recipe in the next week or so.
I think that Zeus adequately expressed how we all felt after the feast! We watched a movie on the couch and then called it a night around 10 p.m.
What’s your favorite dish on the Thanksgiving spread?
Does your family have any special or unique Thanksgiving traditions?
Preferred time to eat your Thanksgiving meal? Are you a lunch or a dinner or mid-afternoon fan?
We are thankful to live close enough to both our families that we can visit both on most holidays. We did lunch with my family and then dinner with my husband’s family. Definietly have to pace yourself but I enjoy being able to see everyone 🙂 Glad you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
we eat around 5! I loved everything this year (not the turkey) but probably loved the stuffing the most! okay and my aunt’s roasted cauliflower.
What a great Thanksgiving! She did a lovely job.
I host a big Thanksgiving at my house. We have been scheduling food around 3… but I’m thinking about bumping it back in upcoming years!
I’m a vegetarian, so it’s all about the sides for me on Thanksgiving! Sweet potato casserole is my favorite. I always make that one so that I can make it how I like it.
My parents and I always do our city’s Turkey Trot, so we get a late breakfast just the three of us before the big combined-family feast. It works out nicely timing wise if we do the Thanksgiving meal around 3 or 4.
I can’t wait to try your brussels sprout recipe. The table setting looked beautiful! We do not have a set Thanksgiving tradition. My husband often works holidays so we work around his schedule. As for a favorite dish…the extended family loves the corn soufflé.
i grew up eating dinner around 5 or 6. so that is my preference although if im hosting earlier is a bit better cuz then people are out a little earlier and you can relax a little afterwards. we did thanksgiving day with my mom then day after i cooked for my dad. we have started calling it day after thanksgiving pajamas thanksgiving. not so creative ! basically one year we were talking and saying how when we were kids we basically stayed in our pjs all day and never really dressed up for thanksgiving but someone at my moms when we got older we started dressing up. my dad told me that at my house i made the rules and could always stay in my pjs all day. so i said i would do it if other would so now friday we gathered at my house and wore our pjs for our day after thanksgiving dinner. sorta silly but makes me feel like a kid again ! my fave food is all the carbs! stuffing, cornbread casserole, pie, etc.
I love your shirt! Where did you get that? Also, cannot wait to try this brussel sprouts salad! I’ll have to work that into my rotation soon!
Looks like a wonderful Thanksgiving 🙂 We enjoyed our Thanksgiving meal as a dinner too, so I loved having fun appetizers as lunch. An appetizer lunch is something I love but such a treat 🙂
Defo a dinner person when celebrating Thanksgiving! And I made these non-dairy cheese Turkey meatballs last Thanksgiving! It was delish!