A traditional Thanksgiving

The Self family continued its age-old (read: one year old) Thanksgiving traditions this year, thanks in part to two straight years of balmy Thanksgiving day weather.  We walked the nearly empty streets of our neighborhood over to Dunkin Donuts, one of the few places open, to enjoy a hearty breakfast of donuts and coffee (Wes), orange Coolata (Liz and Ollie), and chocolate milk (Emme).  We then took a walk on main campus, where we found a great pile of leaves for the kids to play in, and then headed over to the Dragon Park to play.

We got home around lunch time, fed the kids a small, healthy lunch to offset their breakfast, and put them down unsuccessfully for a nap.  Mid-afternoon, we headed over to a classmate's house for a joint Thanksgiving meal.  She had made a delicious turkey and mashed potatoes, while others brought salad, bread, and other sides.  We brought "stuffins," a recipe I found for muffin-like stuffing.  The kids were reasonably well behaved, thanks to Wes's considerable oversight in my friend's lovely condo, and they amused her with their wiggling on her faux-sheepskin rug.

We were home with two very sleepy kids by 6pm, at which point they quickly changed into their new Grinch pajamas, courtesy of Grandma Neiheisel's sewing abilities, and watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas for the first of what will surely be many times before Christmas actually comes.

I'm definitely beginning to love our minimalist holidays, especially no big meal on Thanksgiving.  I don't mind doing it once, but if it's Thanksgiving or Christmas, I'll gladly wait until I have a longer chunk of time off from classes (and between semesters) to give myself over to the stove and oven for a day.  Plus with Nashville's temperate fall, it's fun to enjoy the outside with the kids.