Thanksgiving

What a wonderful day! This was the first Thanksgiving we held at our house. It was also Maximus' first Thanksgiving and he had a blast entertaining everyone with his walking skills. We planned to have Jesse's parents, his brothers and their guests and three additional Jack Russells over that afternoon. We got up at 8am (not too early) to prepare. While Jesse located a large table cloth and built a fence to contain a herd of dogs, I prepared side dishes. Thankfully, Vicki was preparing turkey, smoked ham, a duck AND baking the sweets. Jesse's youngest brother (Fletcher) and his friend (Lamoni-we call him "Mo") showed up first and successfully ate half of the spinach artichoke dip I made just 5 minutes prior. Here's Fletch showing his love for some damn good cookies his mom makes...

Of course Maximus receives a gift whenever Vicki and Dan show up. This gift was a cool little wagon.

Here's our table of side dishes. The island in the kitchen was packed full of meat, sweets and additional sides. So much food.

We actually allowed Max to try some pumpkin pie. He's never had sugar before. I just can't stand man-made chemicals (like high fructose corn syrup) going into my son! I guess twice a year of inorganic food won't hurt him. Here's his uncle DJ holding him during his first experience with sugar...

I guess the team of Jack Russells had a good time while we ate...it's a Jack Russell sandwich! Gross...

And if you enjoy good wine, spend more than $45 for once and try one of these. Totally worth it. The ZD is magnificent. It was a great Thanksgiving. It really was. Max was exhausted by the early evening, and so were we. I'm glad everyone was there. It definitely was an enjoyable day. I must say, Vicki and I made really great food. From the four different pies, lemon bars and variety of meat she made to the rutabagas and sides I made, it was a feast. I mean, how many people enjoyed roast duck yesterday? We did!

After everyone left, Max ran around the house naked celebrating the fabulous day.