Thanksgiving- Island Style

Ah- Thanksgiving. Our normal Thanksgiving plans involve getting up at the crack of dawn to drive from Chicago to Gerald, MO in order to get to Tim's stepgrandparents farm before noon. There we eat amazing food and drink wine, go on a hayride and round the day out by playing hearts. The following day my mom and I typically hit some Black Friday sales while Tim and Brandon watch football. The night is filled by the annual 'Everyone's Home for Thanksgiving So Let's Get Drunk' Soiree I started 5 years ago. Saturday we would head back to Chicago so we were refreshed for work on Monday. I was curious what was going to be in store for us this year as we celebrated our first island Turkey Day.

The day started off a little different namely because instead of 35 degrees it was a sunny, beautiful day. Tim had to work in the morning so I took advantage of the great weather and headed to Magen's Bay for a little relaxation. I laid out for a bit, read for awhile (Cheryl- your book may return to you with a bit of sand, sorry!) and swam some laps so I could indulge later guilt free. After leaving the beach I went home to make my standard potluck dish- cucumbers and ranch spread on individual multigrain bread- for the Thanksgiving dinner we were going to at Betsy's Bar. Yep- you read correctly, we were doing our dinner at a bar!

We picked up our friend Kate, who was returning from visiting family in Chicago, and headed to the bar. Betsy's husband spent all day cooking turkeys and there were plenty of people there bringing side dishes. The spread was FANTASTIC! It had all the staples: turkey, ham, 3 kinds of mashed potatoes, tons of different kinds of stuffing, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce and pecan pie. In addition to all that there were other things like cheesecake, pumpkin chocolate chip bread, cream cheese salami rolls and taco dip. I couldn't wait to attack those tables full of food. After ordering some wine and someone saying a short blessing we were let loose. I filled my plate with a little bit of everything- I wanted to try it all! Of course, we all overindulged a bit and had to wait to go get dessert. We filled that time with more wine and more friends met up with us.

After leaving Betsy's we decided to go out for some 'nice' drinks. We figured it was Thanksgiving and we should treat ourselves to a martini or two at Grand Cru. We had the bar to ourselves and filled the time with just hanging out talking. It was a very nice way to end the night.

Today, I spent two hours in line at K-Mart in order to get a great deal on a 32" LCD TV. Seeing that the line at the K-Mart here is usually 45 minutes I feel that I still won! It wasn't quite the Black Friday shopping I was used to but that's okay! I'm sad that we are missing the Soiree tonight but know that Shamel and Becky are being amazing hosts. We're laying low because tomorrow, you guessed it, we both have to work. I think I'll take making money over that drive from St. Louis to Chicago anyday!

It's the time of year to give thanks. I'm thankful for the support of our family and friends in our big adventure. I'm thankful for the great group of friends we have made here. Our island Thanksgiving gets two turkey legs up!