a slightly lame thanksgiving, but not too terrible.

our thanksgiving was a little bit non-traditional this year. shane had left on Wednesday to spend the weekend in California with gramma laurie, helping with the community center thanksgiving dinner they have put on for the last 21 years. so he was absent at home. also, dave was sick, and spent most of the day like this:

note the Kleenex box...

but, that didn't stop us from cooking and baking, watching the parade and the dog show, having a yummy meal, playing scattergories, watching football, finishing up with coffee and pie, OR being thankful.

Layla helped with the apple pie. slicing the apples, and crimping the edges of the crust is her favorite part.

finished product. got to try out my fancy snowflake pie crust cutters that I got from a student last year. so pretty! I should really make more pies.

we always look forward to the rockettes during the macy's parade.

it starts with an onion and a whole stick of butter. can't go wrong!

green bean casserole in process. so yummy! and NO cream of mushroom soup. this recipe is so far and away superior!

national dog show. who doesn't love a basset! these dogs just make me smile.

my dad carving.

table is set! still sporting the hand turkey placecards that Layla made years ago. shane's spot is sadly empty.

traditional pic of Layla with the finger olives! I bought the "colossal" olives this year and they were so big, they not only fit on all her fingers, even the thumb, but were TOO BIG on the pinky!

happy husky x2 (actually 3, I just hadn't cleaned out the 3rd dish yet.

micah, demonstrating his appreciation for pie and coffee after thanksgiving dinner.

super-fun (creepy) trick Layla discovered she can do with the tooth that won't come out!

the only real downside came after dinner, when I was standing in the kitchen and heard a horrible shattering noise from inside the dishwasher. I opened it up to discover that the glass lid from one of my casserole dishes had apparently exploded in there! no idea why. it's not like it was wedged anywhere weird, and it's supposed to go in the oven, so it's not like it could have been too hot... at any rate, it was in lots of big pieces and hundreds of tiny shards. so I had to fish all that out of the dishwasher, rinse all the dishes off so we wouldn't wind up eating any glass and internally bleeding to our deaths, clean all the tiny shards out of the bottom of the dishwasher, and re-run the load to try and flush out any remaining. that was a pain. but I only cut myself a tiny bit, and the load seems to have come out glass-free, so hopefully we're good. i'm a little bummed about the lid though. and it's just weird!

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christmas eve

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