Thanksgiving Fun!

I was planning our thanksgiving before Halloween had even arrived and it wasn't because I absolutely love Thanksgiving. It's because I love how we've spent our Thanksgiving for the last four years now.

We've made some amazing friends since we moved to Seattle and it's become tradition that we celebrate together. This year we had friends come up all the way from Portland to celebrate with us and I loved every second of it.

The night before Thanksgiving we made these cute place cards for the table. It's supposed to look like Indian Corn but there aren't nearly enough yellow M&Ms in a bag for it to work out like that. Oh well, it was still really cute .. and frustrating. That raffia is pain to work with!

I was pretty happy with how well the stamp worked out on the bottom so I had to show it off even if it was the easiest part of the project.

A friend of ours brought an extra folding table so we had enough table space for everyone.

The only problem with our plan was that we needed to get the table set and decorated but it didn't get there until after the food was done. So we all scrambled and everyone worked together to make our Thanksgiving feast a success. The tables ended up looking even better than I imagined thanks to some lovely flowers.

p.s. See that beautiful bench right there? Yeah, Ben made that. He's awesome. 

Unfortunately, I forgot to get a picture of everyone sitting down. But this was taken shortly after Ben lead us in a Newman tradition of singing "Come, Ye Thankful People Come"

I also, unfortunately, forgot to take any pictures of all the delicious food. I am REALLY bummed because it was an amazing spread and everything was absolutely delicious.

That's one of the great thing about everyone bringing a few dishes. Instead of having to make a bunch of "pretty good" dishes, you can focus on two or three and make them really good! And you can sign up for the stuff you know is tasty! It always makes for a delicious meal.

And no Thanksgiving dinner is complete without pies.

Caramel Apple Pie

Cherry Pie

Eggnog Pie

Pecan Pie

And lots and lots of other pies. 

Needless to say, we went to bed with full stomachs and our meals today have mostly consisted of Turkey and pie. ... It's a hard life.